Housing Demand in Moscow and the Moscow Region Declines in Early 2025
Recent quarterly figures show a clear slowdown in the market for newly built apartments across Moscow and its surrounding districts. In the city proper, the number of buyers stepping into new developments dropped by about one third on the old line and just over half in the newer districts, while the Moscow region experienced a steep downturn as well. Analysts from Dolgov PRO, cited by Izvestia, report a significant pullback in demand during the first quarter, underscoring a shift in buying behavior that is shaping the local real estate landscape.
More detailed numbers reveal a dramatic tightening in buyer activity. On the historic outskirts of Moscow, sales volumes fell by roughly 31 percent compared with the first quarter of the prior year. In areas that fall under newer zoning, the decline intensified to around 52 percent. Across the entire Moscow region, demand contracted by about 42 percent, reflecting a broad pullback in appetite for newly built stock. Within New Moscow, where supply has been expanding, the drop was the most pronounced at 52 percent, while overall regional demand slipped by 47 percent. These patterns suggest that price expectations, financing conditions, and buyer confidence are all contributing to a more cautious market sentiment among potential homeowners and investors alike.
Despite the softer demand, the average price for a square meter of living space in new constructions remained relatively stable in the first quarter, hovering near 345 thousand rubles. Over the previous year, this metric shows a marginal decline of around 0.8 percent, indicating that pricing power has not fully shifted in tandem with the drop in demand. For developers and lenders, this stability may reflect ongoing supply adjustments and the balancing effect of existing contracts, as well as the readiness of buyers to meet near-term financial commitments if favorable terms arise.
Looking at broader affordability, recent statistical data suggest a long path to accumulated savings for many prospective buyers. For a comfortable-class apartment in the capital’s new developments, it reportedly took about six and a half years for a buyer to gather sufficient funds in the fourth quarter of the previous year. This longevity in saving highlights a persistent gap between wage growth, mortgage access, and housing prices. The affordability index for Moscow’s new-build market in 2022 reached a multi-year low, underscoring the ongoing constraint on purchasing power for a sizable portion of potential residents. As markets adjust to current conditions, buyers, developers, and financial institutions are all recalibrating expectations and strategies, with some exploring alternative financing options, longer-term loans, or different project profiles to align with evolving affordability realities.