Demand for housing in the Republic of Crimea: what stimulates developers and buyers?

In Crimea, the demand for housing is growing every year. According to the largest regional developers, coastal and tourist real estate is especially popular. The cost of square meters in the region is inferior to analogues in other popular regions of the South of the country, while the quality of development is consistent. At the same time, such objects are of greatest interest to foreign investors. Read more about the current economic situation in the regions in the new issue report Bank of Russia «Regional Economics».

Housing construction indicators in Crimea at the end of last year hit a record high. In 2023, the volume of housing commissioned in the region amounted to 1.2 million square meters. meters, including more than 315 thousand sq. meters people received in apartment buildings. The drivers of demand in the primary housing market were preferential government mortgage programs that support both consumers and developers.

According to Rosreestr, from the second quarter of 2023, the demand for new apartments in Crimea has been steadily increasing. If in January-March the number of new equity participation agreements decreased in annual terms, then in July-September their number increased 3 times compared to the same period of the previous year. First of all, this is due to the desire of residents of the region to have time to obtain a mortgage before the terms of preferential lending are revised, in particular, before the amount of the down payment is increased.

Thus, the region recorded a twofold increase in the issuance of mortgages. Over the year, clients received 32.7 billion rubles of such loans, and the number of transactions was almost 1.8 times higher than in 2022. In turn, the volume of mortgage issuance in Russia in 2023 reached a historical maximum, exceeding the previous year’s figures by 62%.

As noted in the report, in 2024, a number of developers see risks of decreased demand in the primary market, which is associated with tightening regulatory requirements. Among them are an increase in the minimum down payment for state programs, the abolition of a massive mortgage program with state support from July of this year, a limit on the maximum debt load and the number of preferential loans per borrower.

At the same time, a more targeted and socially oriented family mortgage should become a new driver of the market. It will allow developers to more easily adapt to changing market conditions.

source: Branch for the Republic of Crimea of ​​the Southern Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation