UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 1, 2015. Some 50,000 m2 worth of new office space got commissioned in Yekaterinburg in the first quarter of the year; however, there were very few tenants in the new buildings, Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports.

The chamber’s analysts feel the commercial estate market is going through a deepening recession occasioned mostly by overall economic factors, just like in the past. Among these factors are shrinking investments, closing businesses, slowing-down wholesale turnover and dropping retail one. ‘These were at work as early as 2014, and the current state of events is far from promising,’ the analysts say.

Nevertheless, quite a few new office buildings got commissioned in the first three months of the year, including the ones that were started under different market opportunities. These are Aurora Trade Center, Clever Park, Bazhovsky, Kvartal, and an office building at 33 Bazhov St, 50,000 m2 altogether.

‘The last time we had the same figure was in early 2012, during the post-recession recovery. The economy is now going through a totally different and rather troublesome stage, so the new buildings had to be launched even though very few offices were actually rented out. Some of the trade centers had to start without a single purchase-and-sale or a rental contract.’