Reasons for the sales boom
The volume of apartment listings on Moscow’s secondary real estate market surged from 2019 to 2021, effectively doubling. Avito Real Estate shared with socialbites.ca several factors behind this rush of demand. Foremost among them are the enduring liquidity of capital properties and the attraction of historically low mortgage rates. These elements created a favorable environment for homeowners to upgrade by trading older units for more modern ones in new buildings, a shift that was amplified by the rising popularity of Avito as a real estate listing platform, according to Sergey Khakhulin, head of secondary and suburban real estate at Avito Real Estate.
Khakhulin noted that roughly 43,000 Moscow apartment listings appeared on the secondary market during the period, marking an all-time high for the capital region. He explained that many sellers leveraged the moment to enhance living comfort through relocation, pointing to the platform’s growing prominence in real estate placement as a key driver.
Situation in the Central Administrative District
The Central Administrative District (TsAO) has traditionally been the most lucrative segment of Moscow’s secondary real estate market. In 2021, the average asking price for a centrally located apartment approached 50 million rubles. At the same time, experts observed that housing prices in the district more than doubled since 2019.
Over the past three years, supply in Moscow’s secondary housing market has been fairly evenly distributed among the city’s districts. Nevertheless, the Central Administrative District consistently led in the number of listings, accounting for about 14% of the total in the capital. Following districts include the South and Southeast, each contributing around 12%, and the North, roughly 10% of total listings.
Khakhulin also stressed that the Central Administrative District’s market remains tight, with limited new supply relative to demand.
Evaluation of other counties
Following the Central Administrative District, the Western (ZAO) and North-West (SZAO) districts rank as the priciest in Moscow’s secondary market. In 2021, the average housing prices in these districts hovered around 21.4 million and 14 million rubles respectively. Avito Nedvizhimost highlighted that prices in ZAO climbed by about 50% over the previous two years.
In the ranking of Moscow’s priciest secondary apartments, after ZAO and SZAO, the South-West Administrative District (SCZO) reported averages near 13.8 million rubles, the North-East Administrative Okrug around 13.3 million, the Novomoskovsky Administrative District (NovomAO) about 13 million, and the Southern Administrative District close to 12.7 million rubles.
The most affordable options on Moscow’s secondary housing market in 2021 were found in Zelenograd and the Southeast regions, where buyers paid on average 8.3 million and 8.6 million rubles, respectively, for housing.
The rise of the studios
Over the past two years, two-bedroom units have dominated supply in Moscow’s secondary market, comprising more than 30% in 2019 and about 27–28% in 2020–21. Three-bedroom units also saw a decline, from 26% in 2019 to under 20% in 2021. The odnushki segment followed a similar pattern, shrinking from 26% to around 22% of total offerings.
In contrast, studio apartments experienced a dramatic rise, tripling their share from 7% in 2019 to 24% in 2021. The year 2021 witnessed a surge in demand for studios across most Moscow regions, with purchases increasing by more than 100% in many areas. Avito noted that the strongest activity for studios occurred in CJSC, CAO, and ZelAO, with gains of 220%, 172%, and 170% respectively. Khakhulin explained that the coronavirus market lull in 2020 played a substantial role in this trend.
Studios are often viewed as the most affordable entry point next to one-bedroom units. For instance, in Nekrasovka, options as small as 11–15 square meters were available for 2–2.5 million rubles. Yet, prices for larger studio layouts exceed 50 square meters can reach well into the mid-30s million rubles, such as on Kutuzovsky Prospekt.
Avito Nedvizhimost observed that 2021 saw the largest concentration of metropolitan studios for sale in the Southeastern Administrative Region, totaling around 13,000 listings. Since 2019, the number of studio listings there has grown sixfold, while the average price rose roughly 30%, reaching 3.7 million rubles. The Zelenograd region offered relatively lower prices at around 3.25 million in the prior year. The most expensive studios were reported in the Novomoskovsk Autonomous Okrug, where studio prices reached about 6.1 million rubles.