‘We are currently getting ready to hold a competition among the realtors who will deal in direct homes sales in the would-be Academic district of Yekaterinburg,’ says Academic construction project manager Stanislav Pridvishkin.

‘As for the show room, we definitely are going to have one so that the buyer has a chance to look at the detailed model of the district and choose the building they would like to live in,’ Mr Pridvishkin said.

This new district is to appear in the south-west of Yekaterinburg and is expected to occupy 2,500 hectares of land, with 1,200 hectares covered by forests and parks and 1,300 hectares used for putting up over 9m square meters of housing and over 4.2m square meters of buildings meant for commercial and socially important purposes. Three highways will provide a link to the center of the city, and there is also going to be a high-speed tram service. This will become home to 325,000 dwellers, with houses and flats divided into five categories: 51% of dwellings will belong to economy class, 33% of them will be middle-class ones, 11% of the dwellings are to be classed as business class ones, with 4% and 1% belonging to premium class and town house class, respectively. Besides, a university campus and a large medical center will be created as well.