At the start of 2023, Moscow’s housing market revealed a gap between what buyers wanted and what was available in classic apartment layouts. As a result, prices for this segment rose, a trend highlighted by Izvestia after examining NDV Supermarket Real Estate’s market analytics. The data signal that requests for classic floor plans outpaced supply, pushing values higher in the capital city as 2023 began. The story mirrors a broader pattern seen in many large urban markets, where older, more traditional layouts often command a premium when new inventory is scarce. The takeaway is clear: supply constraints in the classic segment can drive price momentum even when overall market activity remains steady or slows in other formats. [NDV data, Izvestia]
Analysts point to a pronounced divergence between the classic and euro-format offerings in Moscow, with classic layouts representing a notably smaller share of total available stock. In the published analysis, the classic format accounted for about 20.5% of active listings, while euro-format flats comprised roughly 55.3%. The limited supply of classic apartments was identified as the primary catalyst for their price ascent in January 2023, as buyers faced fewer options that met the traditional floor-plan preference. This gap between demand and supply helps explain why classic layouts, despite being less common, experienced the most pronounced price gains among Moscow’s apartment categories. [NDV data, Izvestia]
From December 2022 to January 2023, the average price per square meter for classic apartments rose in a range of roughly 3.7% to 5.8%, signaling a broad uplift rather than a single, isolated spike. Within this segment, four-room units led the way with a notable increase of about 5.8%, reaching around 219.3 thousand rubles per square meter. One-bedroom configurations also climbed, gaining about 4.3% to roughly 298.9 thousand rubles per square meter, while three-room flats rose by approximately 3.7% to 243.9 thousand rubles per square meter. These shifts reflect buyers’ continued willingness to invest in traditional layouts despite rising prices, underpinned by the enduring appeal of familiar residential footprints in central locations. [NDV data, Izvestia]
In parallel market commentary, a February survey linked by Lenta.ru to the VseInstrumenty online platform indicated persistent buyer confidence in Moscow as a favorable city for home purchases in 2023. More than one-fifth of Russians—generally cited as 20% to 22%—identified Moscow as the most advantageous place to buy, with St. Petersburg following at about 11% of respondents expressing interest in housing there. The survey insights help contextualize the capital’s tug on buyer sentiment, even as price dynamics continue to reflect supply constraints across classic layouts. [survey attribution: Lenta.ru referencing VseInstrumenty]