Under the housekeeper's roof: prices for ready-made private houses fell by 15%
The cost of ready-made individual houses in Russia has decreased by an average of 10-15% over the year, market participants told Izvestia. The main reason is that demand in the first half of the year was significantly lower than in the same period of 2024, when government—backed mortgages were in effect. As a result, some small companies are leaving the market, while others are reorienting to the expensive segment, experts say. About what the situation on the residential housing market will be, see the Izvestia article.
How house prices have decreased
In Russia, amid a strong decline in demand for ready-made private homes, their cost has fallen by 10-15%, market participants told Izvestia. Interest from buyers sank by 30-35% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, when there was a government-backed mortgage, said Maxim Lazovsky, owner of the Lazovsky House construction company.
The decrease in prices was shown by the economy and comfort segments, explained Natalia Kruglova, managing partner of Trophy Assets, an independent expert. In the business, premium, and elite sectors of the market, demand, sales, and prices are rising, while supply is declining.
"In some cases, annual price increases are even higher than deposit rates," she said. — Segmentation leads to a paradox: in the upper price segment of the suburban market, there is an increase in sales and prices. Premium land plots gained 11%, cottages — 25%, while affordable suburban housing became scarce.
The mass segment suffered the most: in some economy-class cottage settlements, the volume of transactions fell by two or three times. At the beginning of the year, Bashkiria, the Krasnodar Territory and the Moscow Region were the leaders in mortgage programs for individual housing construction (IHS). And if construction was a priority for borrowers in 2024, then in 2025 half of the mortgages were spent on the purchase of finished houses.
The cost of building private homes has also decreased by 10-15%, Maxim Lazovsky added.
— The reasons are that the growth of workers' salaries has stopped and a number of building materials have slightly decreased in price, — the expert noted.
A significant decrease in demand for building materials (3-15%) is observed in the segment of professional builders, said Stanislav Gapeev, technical specialist at TSTN.
"The frequency of their purchases is about the same as last year," he said. — This may be a marker that the builders are still completing the facilities that were started last year. Or they began to take on small jobs, repairs and minor reconstructions, such as warming houses.
At the same time, in some cases, despite lower prices for building materials, the cost of building houses remained at the same level due to additional costs incurred by contractors due to the introduction of escrow accounts, added Anton Saukov, head of the center for suburban real estate at the federal company Floors.
"Over the past few years, the volume of commissioning in the segment of individual housing construction against the background of available loans has been record—breaking, but now the situation has changed," he said. — The demand for the construction of houses has become lower, which is why some small and medium-sized construction firms that have not formed an airbag for themselves have faced financial difficulties and have not been able to complete even those houses for which they have signed contracts.
Why sales in residential housing have fallen
The residential housing market is now living off the supply potential that has been accumulated over the past few years, and competition for buyers is pushing sellers to make a discount, Anton Saukov noted.
— However, if activity in the segment of house construction does not begin to recover, this will gradually lead to a shortage of available supply in the market due to the withdrawal of some construction companies from it, and hence to an increase in prices, - said the expert.
In addition, according to Natalia Kruglova, small and non-professional players are leaving the market.
"Those who remain are refocusing on more solvent demand: for example, developers in the Moscow region have switched to business and premium, and fewer low—cost projects are being launched," she added.
These are the main problems of the residential housing market: the imbalance between the needs of the middle class and what developers and banks can offer, the expert added.
"Developers are caught between two fires: expensive loans and declining real demand," she explained. — Investors are also wary and prefer to place funds on deposits instead of investing in objects with unclear prospects.
A turning point is possible only with a noticeable easing of the Central Bank's policy: if the key rate drops to 13-14% by the end of the year, mortgage rates will be able to return to the range of 10-12%, said Denis Astafyev, entrepreneur, fund manager and founder of the SharesPro fintech platform.
—However, until demand recovers, the price dynamics in the ready—made homes sector is likely to remain in the corridor of a slight correction or lateral stagnation," he believes.
According to him, more significant growth is possible closer to 2027, when supply shortages will accumulate due to a reduction in new projects.
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