‘While the stock markets are still troubled, the real estate sector starts to lure investors again. We’ve lost some investors eighteen months ago, but now they are gradually coming back,’ Olips’s Deputy GD Evgeniy Melnikov says.

The developing company’s executive reports now is the propitious moment to invest in real estate. Both housing and commercial estate prices will keep going up, as far as good quality buildings are concerned. Besides, the demand hasn’t dropped dramatically, so there is still time to choose the best investment target.

Olips says new homes prices have been slowly going up since the beginning of 2008.

‘We increased our prices by 10% compared to January 2008, mostly during the spring and summer. Nevertheless, the demand was still good, with a lot of transactions even during the vacation season,’ says the company’s Sales Director Petr Latiy.

‘Nearly all the available land allotments in the city have been used up. Multi-faceted area development projects outside the city boundaries are extremely resource-consuming, so the developers will probably put up fewer buildings in the future. At the same time, people are still interested in the newly constructed dwellings, while investors who can’t risk buying stocks and securities will direct their money to real estate. All this will spur prices again. As for the stricter mortgage requirements, these aren’t likely to become a factor, as very few people used it to buy a newly constructed apartment anyway. Therefore investing in new homes appears to be the most reliable way of investing one’s money,’ Melnikov claims.

‘The same is true of commercial estate. As the liquidity crisis gathers pace, the supply will go down and investing in commercial estate will pay off much faster and better in comparison with the times of plentiful supply,’ he notes.