Developers in St. Petersburg began to postpone the launch of new projects on the market

A new trend has emerged on the St. Petersburg real estate market - St. Petersburg developers, who previously planned to launch projects and open sales, are stopping them until the situation stabilizes. First of all, the “freeze” concerns projects that are at the stage of obtaining funding or in the zero construction cycle, experts say.

Gotta wait

“I know quite a few developers in St. Petersburg who planned to launch new projects, open sales and construction in the second quarter, and now, due to uncertainty, they stop new projects and wait for the situation to stabilize,” President of the Russian Guild of Managers and Developers, founder of Becar Asset told RBC Petersburg Management Alexander Sharapov.

“Some developers planning to launch new projects in 2022, both in residential and commercial real estate, have taken a wait-and-see attitude,” confirmed Andrey Kosarev , General DIRECTOR of Colliers International in St. Petersburg . According to him, the suspension concerns a part of projects that are at the stage of receiving project financing or in the zero cycle.

The reason for the pause, as the expert explained, was the increase in the key rate of the Central Bank to 20% against the backdrop of an aggravated geopolitical situation and, as a result, an increase in the cost of borrowed money to finance construction projects. “At the same time, the devaluation of the ruble, the accumulating deficit and logistical problems in the supply of building materials (both imported and domestic) significantly complicate the construction process,” Andrey Kosarev said.

Revaluation time

Director of Dataflat.Ru (a database on the sale of new buildings and prices on the primary market) Alexander Pypin notes that developers have other reasons for suspending projects. “Part of the volumes (individual projects, buildings, pools of apartments) are put on a short-term pause to change price lists, taking into account changed demand, and agree on new mortgage conditions with banks. A wave of suspensions of this type was in late February-early March 2022, ”he explained. During this period, the volume of open supply of apartments and apartments in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region decreased by 7.5 thousand positions (to 52 thousand apartments in 350 LCDs), but at the moment the volume of supply in both regions has recovered by 80%.