Apartments for sale in Minsk - October 2013

Review of the residential property market in Minsk in October 2013

   In September, the  long-term growth  of residential real estate in Minsk for the first time significantly slowed down . In mid-October we could see that was a turning point and since then we have observed only decline in prices. Reaction of buyers and sellers on trends and changes one can find in this October review of  Realt.by.

   Against the background of the incipient decline of supply of apartments, the most important and most expected rate in October was the number of contracts closed. The data show us that in October exodus of buyers from the market did not happen. Compared to September, the number of transactions is even slightly increased.

   At the same time, the volume of supply continued to rise by accelerated pace. Number of apartments for sale on market in October was 14.7% more than inlast month. And rate of growth of supply compared to September remained absolutely unchanged.

   The current ratio of these two main indicator shows that the market is fully recovered from the excessive demand and shortage of supply of apartments  which we had been observing during recent month.

The number of transactions recorded in September  - finalized

* yellow - offers, red - sales completed

   Compared to September, we recorded the following changes in consumer preferences:

   First, buyers began paying more attention to the 2- room apartments - their share in the total has risen. Number of 1-room and 3 room apartments  bought in October is less than ususal.

  Secondly, people are actively buying within the First transport ring area. High price does not scare buyers - the number of completed deals in the heart of the city has grown by half.

Structure of apartments sold

   During last two months numbers regarding  real deals look pretty significant. Buyers, focusing on the growth of the supply of apartments in September and August, traded reluctantly. As a result, if the October average bid price remained virtually unchanged (+0.2%), the prices of actual transactions has gained 1.3% due to inertia. In the future , against the background of rapid growth in supply, increased competition for customers and a clear reduction of the people we hardly can expect a convergence of the two curves.

   On the primary market, developers have continued to raise prices in October (+1.5%) despite a clear signal of reversal on the secondary market. It is important to say that at the moment number of apartmemts in new buildings share which are completed, but not sold out, is a third more than the year before.

   It should be noted that the growth recorded by real deals is mainly due to the already mentioned activity in the city center (number of luxury apartments sold in October is more than in September) as well as in the segment of 2- room apartments. Average price sold od 2-room flats in October was higher than September's values ​​about 4.0% , despite the fact that for the remaining segments price growth has not exceeded 1 percent.

   The main feature of the dynamics of proposals for different segments on the secondary market is the growth of property prices in the old houses. The maximum growth rates was recorded for buidings of Stalin era (+2.4 %), as well as apartments in panel Khrushchev and Brezhnev era houses  (+1.6 %). In this modern cast-frame and brick home has decreased in value by 0.3 %, the same thing happened to the more affordable apartments in a modern prefabricated homes (-0.9 %).

   The color scheme of the price card has undergone a significant change over the last month. Most buyers in the center continues to hold there a positive price dynamics, while in many sleeping neighborhoods prices began to fall. Among them is the former city-wide leaders in the growth  in the summer months: Kamennaya Gorka, Shabany and Malinovka.

   Three quarters of 2013 Minsk was the only "bright spot " on the map of Eastern Europe. None of the nearby capital city prices were not rising at the same pace. In autumn the situation began to change gradually: in the Belarusian capital prices have stopped and even started to decline, while almost all the neighbors experience, albeit a slow but growing rise in prices. However, the price of an apartment in Minsk still continues to be close to the maximum historical figure.

Artyom Sakharevich

Realt.by

Read More

Potash wars

Uralkali CEO under arrest

A top manager of Uralkali has been arrested in Minsk under allegation of insider trading and damaging national interests of the Republic of Belarus. He may face up to 10 years in prison but he is just a little figure in chess game between Russia and Belarus. The stakes are high – it is control of world potash market.

Read More

Prices go crazy

Minsk apartments for rent

The rental market has undergone significant changes over the past six months. Thousands of ordinary people faced with the challenge of finding housing. Meager selection and exorbitant prices for apartments of bad quality - so experts describe the situation. July has always been a kind of calm before the storm, before arrival of non-resident students. Not now.

The number of rental apartments for offer has consistently decreased since March. In past years in the middle of summer market was full of apartments freed by students, which immediately increased the total supply by 10-15%. In July 2013, the increase was only 3.0%. Inside the structure, at the same time there have been significant changes. The segment of the most popular one-room apartments continued to narrow, but supply of the 2 - and 3 - bedroom apartments has increased by 12.4% and 5.9%  respectively. For the first time in a long time, the offers of 1-bedroom apartments lost the lead to 2-bedroom ones.

Read More

Prices are still on a rise

Residential property in Minsk - May 2013

For recent years May on Minsk real estate market was the average standard month. Most buyers are not in a hurry and at the same time activity does not fall sharply, as it happens in the summer months. The current May was no exception to this rule. Nevertheless, there were a few quite interesting events. Facts and figures of the last month of spring in review of Realt.by.


The increased demand for apartments in Minsk, which we are seeing the beginning of the year, continued in May. Although the total number of transactions compared to April decreased by almost 20%, the current mark is still a very high figure. Number of apartments bought in Minsk this year is more than ever before.

Read More

Indian delegation in Minsk

Belarus - India

Only signing an Agreement on free trade between India and the Customs Union will open the way to the Indian market for Belarusian products


Despite the high level of political relations between Belarus and India, trade between our countries is weak. According to the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries in 2012 amounted to 494.6 million USD. The Indian market imported  over 90 items of Belarusian goods worth 262.2 million USD

Read More

S & P upgrades Belarus to "positive"

Belarus economy

Standard & Poor's rating agency has revised its outlook on Belarusian economics from "stable" to "positive", noting the continued stabilization of the economy. Ratings is affirmed to 'B / B'.
S & P experts point out that the government has tightened fiscal and monetary policies, which helped to stabilize the economy. "In our view, a further reduction in inflation and easing pressure on the exchange rate are the main signs of improvement in the economic situation in the country", - the company reports.

Read More

Minsk needs money to support its paternalistic policy

Belarus economy

In 2012, the Belarusian economic model has reached peak of its current capability. Now the only way to keep the economic growth without structural reforms and avoid collapse in  the end of the year, such as currency crises as in 2009 or 2011, is attracting new borrowings  from abroad. This has already been said openly by senior Belarusian officials. But lately, in Minsk did not succeed in the relationship with the creditors, not only in the West but also in the structures of the EuroAsian Economic Community  (EAEC). What is the essence of the dispute and whether the parties will be able to agree?

Read More

Better longer, but quietly

Belarus economy in 2012

Belarus Ministry of Economy presents economic results of 2012 and make some predictions for 2013

Risk-free source of development for Belarus in the "era of modernization" are foreign and domestic private investment, according to the Ministry of Economy. This idea is contained in the report of the Minister of Economy Nikolai Snopkov at the meeting of February 13, which was devoted to the results of 2012.

Read More

Visitors prefer apartments

Accomodation for tourists

3* and 4* hotels do not get about 25% of their revenue, losing competition to "rent for a day" apartments, analitycal egancy EnterInvest concludes  in their Minsk hotel real estate market study.

3* and 4* hotels lose annually about $ 27 million of revenue due to severe competition with rental apartments: their cost is lower and the quality is on the same level as in Minsk hotels. According to experts the volume of hotel services market in the category of 3-4 stars is estimated at 97 million dollars. But main problem for hoteals are "luxury" apartments, which can compete with  5* hotels on the market.

Hotel and Apartment for rent Market in Minsk

Read More

Visitors of Minsk prefer economy-class rooms

Minsk hotels

The number of hotels in Minsk will have increased to 62 by 2016.

On November 1th, there were 29 hotels in Minsk. Two of these hotels ("Oktyabrskaya " and "Belarus") are being reconstructed now. This information has been given during a press conference by the Deputy Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Vladimir Koltovich.

Read More

New kids in the banking block

Mergers and acquisitions in banking

In the following six months in the Belarusian banking sector, several credit institutions will merge, while others find new owners. Currently, very likely that Alfa Bank will buy Belrosbank.

"Every week, representatives of the Moscow office of Alfa-Bank are in Minsk, doing  something like due diligence of Belrosbank. They said they will close a deal in the end of the year" - a source close to the management of Alfa Bank said. On his opinion, Rosbank for long time wanted to get rid of assets in Belarus under the pressure of the main shareholder of French’s Societe Generale.

Read More

Belarus to ask new credit from IMF

Negotiations with IMF

On October 29, the last day of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission in Belarus Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich met with David Hoffman, the head of the IMF delegation. As noted by Hoffman, because of "a long meeting," he almost missed the briefing for journalists. Based on the appeared soon after the press release of the Belarusian government, it is clear that official Minsk is trying to aggressively persuade the IMF to give a new loan. The Fund though remains adamant in its demands.

Mikhail Myasnikovich said that Belarus had successfully implemented recommendations of the IMF to stabilize the economy and can therefore count on a new program with the Fund. "We believe that Belarus considering the hard work done by us can count on a program with the IMF – Myasnikovich said - I think it should be reported to the executive directors and to the political leadership of the fund."

Read More

Our own Monako

Business of gambling in Belarus

Honest, profitable and safe - so the Belarusian government officials and businessmen see gambling business in Belarus. To support it, the Association of Development of Gambling Business was created and it means that the government has no objection to this kind of leisure activity in Belarus.

While in neighboring states gambling is either prohibited or strictly limited, Belarus continues to practice "fair and open system with strict responsibility." How is it going to be achieved, entrepreneurs and government officials spoke on October 9 at a press conference for Belarusian and foreign journalists.

Read More

Time to build and sell

After fall of the real estate market in 2011 outlook is getting better and there is potential for developers to improve volume of sales, and for price increase.

This year Minsk real estate market has seen departure of several big investors. The result was that some of the projects such as Minsk City was canceled. Not enough own money and lack of bank credits were main reasons to stop building activities.

But there is another group of developers - those who remain on the market. They continue to build and sell. After a significant (around 25%) reduction of number of buildings sold last year, now this segment demonstrates stability. In September 2012, the primary real estate market included more than 70 projects.

Read More