The financial crisis affected (and still affects) all of the real estate market. No exception and townhouses in the capital region. And although the explosive growth that is predicted for this segment has not happened, the retreat didn’t happen and its position it is, as experts assure, kept. Let’s understand, whether so it.
Report the disposition
According to the analytical center of the company Villagio Estate in Moscow/Moscow region (this, of course, is mainly going to be the suburbs, because the capital projects are very few) exhibits about 7.2 thousand townhouses. Of these, 43% of households can be attributed to the economy class, 38% to “comfort”, 11% in business, 8% in the luxury segment.
Experts Kaskad Family clarify that for today the share of low-rise construction in the Moscow region is at about 7-8%, of which 5-5,5% is blocked by residential development (townhouses).
If we talk about the locations in which the most actively developing this format, the mostly North-Western, southern and South-Western direction. A significant number of new projects with semi-detached housing among all classes in recent years, coming out in the near to MKAD zone up to 15 km away. This allows buyers to improve living conditions and use of high quality urban infrastructure.
“In 2017, the largest number of new lots came out at the Simferopol highway (38% of the total number released to the market projects) due to the introduction of the settlement Kaskad Park. 24% occurred on the Kiev highway, also mainly due to the new queues in the settlements of the company “Kaskad Property”,” — said Alexander Shibaev, Director of Department of consulting, Analytics and research at Blackwood.
Luxury semi-detached lots located in the villages in the following directions: Rublevo-Uspenskoye, Novorizhskoye, Minsk and Pyatnitskoe shosse. Semi-detached lots are presented in eight elite settlements, such as: “Deauville”, “Trouville” (de luxe), “Rezidentsiya Rublevo”, “Ezerovo”, “Barvikha hills”, “Park Avenue” (“premium”). Thus, the proposed townhouses on the primary market of elite country 85% of the lots belong to the premium class. The greatest number of lots among of semi-detached housing represents the format of the townhouses are 53%, 47% of the lots are duplexes, adds Alexander Shibaev.
By the way, by itself, the format of the townhouses are not considered an elite segment, but they have their competitive advantages, especially those that are located on the territory of Moscow. This emphasizes the Director of the residential real estate Department at Penny Lane Realty Sergey Kolosnitsyn. He said that the towns where they are built, as a rule, stand apart from dense urban areas. Being a medium format between the apartment and a private home, townhouses comfortable, and special advantages are the privacy (a minimum of neighbors compared to the apartment building) and its own local area, albeit small compared to country formats.
Along with old projects in Moscow (Serebryany Bor, “Fantasy Island”, “Kurkino”, “Godunovo”, “Pokrovskoye-Glebovo”) now have the new ones, which can be attributed to the elite class. “For example, townhouses have the project in Serebryany Bor “Shore capital” (coastline does not involve the construction of multi-storey buildings, hence the emergence of this format in the city). Noble Row — perhaps the most expensive big-budget new project”, — says Sergey Kolosnitsyn.
Konstantin Romanov, Director of development, Villagio Estate, gives a brief slice of the market. According to him, demand structure by classes looks as follows: 26% of sold properties belong to the economy segment, and 46% for “comfort” (“economy plus”), 18% business, 10% — to the elite level. The average townhouse price is 10.6 million rubles, which is 0.5% higher compared to last year. The average cost premium of an object is equal to 27,6 million (+6%). The average area of a row house on the luxury market is 245 sqm and the plot size is 3.2 acres.
Pain points
The advantages of the format is undeniable. For developers — this is a shorter terms of coordination, fast construction time, shorter implementation period, other social obligations (schools, kindergartens), lightweight building codes, the ability to use almost any architectural form. In addition, given the decline of sales of apartments in the Moscow region, townhouses gain an additional perspective.
For buyers of the townhouses — the Golden mean between an apartment and a separate cottage. Semi — product with its unique architecture, interior beautification of the village and with its own special “way of life”. “Also see the advantages of high security, fewer neighbors, a tranquil atmosphere, a large area of real estate for the same cost with a small apartment in Moscow and a private plot of 1-2 acres”, lists Catherine Kogan, head of Department of marketing of a family of companies Kaskad Family.
However, there is a format and their problems. Perhaps the biggest headache (speaking developers) — changes in the FZ-214. New amendments threaten to increase the money loads of developers who do are enough non-mass product. In addition, they will have to use the services of banks through escrow accounts and to receive funds from the sale of objects only after their commissioning, but here much will depend on the conditions which will create banks for developers. In addition, to enter into force, the law must soon, and ambiguities and vague wording in the document a lot more.
The difficulty is in the fact that the state encourages mainly the major players in the high-rise construction, but with low-rise suburban real estate developers to establish a comprehensive dialogue not in a hurry. Not be amiss to say that now, in principle, quite difficult to find a quality platform suitable for new and most importantly, cost-effective construction.
One of the challenges in creating new projects of townhouses comes from the landowners. “They continue to live in the old paradigm and are trying to use the maximum density of development, not understanding that currently the demand for high-rise housing in MO falling, and pulling the economy of the project they want is impossible. Therefore, many landlords saving the liquid earth and waiting for multi-storey developers, who now have their sights on the capital market. In addition, many landowners acquired land assets in the beginning of zero dollars, and now have unreasonably high expectations,” says Catherine Cohen.
Alexander Shibaev sees a problem in the lack of new supply among lots of semi-detached housing due to the lower demand, compared to cottages and residences. Demand in the segment is maintained at a stable level only at the expense of promotions and discounts from developers, as well as updating lots and training of the “turnkey”, he says.
Alex Odnoral, head of Department of sales of the company Optiland, watching this trend: now the main pool of buyers are young couples and they usually don’t want to wait until the village is completed, will improve its accessibility, but this is a definite problem: the market is not so many proposals that fully meet these requirements.
You have to think about familiar things in the future, however, may turn into serious difficulties. Speech, in particular, about drinking water. Igor Bogachev, head of real estate Aenbi, notes that the groundwater level in the suburbs has been steadily declining, and the quality of the water deteriorates. “However, there is some progress in Russia production of filters and systems of water purification, both for large and for medium and small volumes”, then stipulates the source.
Plus to minus, in the end?
Nevertheless, what the prospects for the townhouses? Experts believe that this format occupies a stable niche in the market and it is unlikely (in the next five to ten years), though shaken. Stability are its main characteristics. Indicators of exposure and demand never showed any serious decline, no huge growth in the past, share deals and sales compared to other formats of housing too long ago remains at the same level: around 10-12%. “I think this will continue. Therefore, compared to other formats of the fence segment of the townhouses looks very decent and positive”, — shares the opinion of Konstantin Romanov.
As noted by Executive Director of the residential complex “Dream”, Maxim Nikitin, a similar property in demand. Even if the interest in such projects will be reduced, the existing supply will last for the next three years, and it provided that the new facilities on the market will not work.
As the market now only the buyer, from this point of view, townhouse format, and solves many consumer expectations for comfortable housing. This private entrance, and private land, and the presence of an open or closed terrace, and that is very important to the large variability of the planning content of the living space.
All of this leads, though not to the swift, but the development of the format. So, make the forecast, the townhouses will not only hold existing positions, but, quite possibly, even expand the front line.
Dmitry Bakhtin
