The number of registered equity contracts in St. Petersburg for the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period last year increased by 50% - to 38 thousand in Leningrad, however, this figure continues to decline. Despite this, the number of mortgage deals increased significantly in both regions. Experts from Kommersant explain the revival in the residential real estate market of the changes in the 214-FZ and the plans of the Russian authorities to cancel the shared construction in the next two years.

According to the Rosreest of St. Petersburg, from January to June inclusive, the city registered more than 38 thousand DDU, which is 49.9% more than for the same period last year (25.6 thousand). In the Leningrad region, on the contrary, the number of such transactions continues to decline. As reported in the regional administration, the number of DDU in the region for the first half of the year compared to the same period last year decreased from 17.9 to 14.8 thousand, which is 17% less than in 2017.

The number of mortgage loans issued for the purchase of housing increased in two neighboring regions. Thus, in St. Petersburg the growth was 68.8% (from 21.7 to 36.6 thousand), in the Leningrad region - 43% (from 19.5 to 34.6 thousand). The total number of registered rights, encumbrances of real estate in St. Petersburg in the first half of the year was 307.6 thousand. This is 5.3% lower than the same period last year. In the Leningrad Region, this indicator increased by 8.5%, to 234 thousand.

According to the director of the department of residential real estate of Colliers International Elizabeth Conway, the decrease in the number of DDUs in the Leningrad region is due to the fact that offers in the region began to lose their attractiveness due to transport problems, a lack of social infrastructure and high density of construction.

Director of the Center for Real Estate Investment Becar Asset Management Katerina Soboleva adds that St. Petersburg "pulled" the demand for housing due to the large number of projects with attractive prices, derived in the first quarter of 2018. In addition, the housing market in the Leningrad region has become oversaturated, and today the supply exceeds demand.

Among the reasons for the revival in the real estate market head of the CC "Petersburg real estate" Olga Trosheva called the amendments in 214-FZ. They, in the opinion of the expert, speeded up the decision to purchase from a certain percentage of buyers. This opinion is shared by Ms. Conway: "There was a certain excitement in the market, which warms both developers and buyers alike. The high activity on the part of developers saturated the market with new projects and as a result - improved the choice, thus stimulating the purchase of variety and affordability of the offer through not only a low price at the initial stage of construction, but also a lower mortgage rate. "

She also added that such a high buying activity will not last long. "The objects continue to leave on the market, overstocking it and creating a sense of accessibility and wide choice for the buyer. In this situation, unlikely to remain the same buying activity, most likely, there will be separate seasonal outbursts in the fall and at the end of this year, "Mrs. Conway shared her forecasts.

According to the results of five months of this year, the Leningrad Region took the second place in the country in terms of housing commissioning (see "Kommersant" dated June 27, 2013). From January to May inclusive, this figure in the region amounted to 1.5 million square meters. m. Petersburg, which last year entered the top three in Russia, went down to the fifth place (874.6 thousand square meters). However, demand for housing in the Leningrad region began to fall as early as last year. At the end of 2016, 40.2 thousand apartments were sold in the region, in 2017 - 35.6 thousand apartments.