Housing issue in Belarusian media: press review
State-owned newspaper Respublika decided not to search for the reasons why housing prices went down. Instead, it found two reasons for their growth. Belarusian citizens are the first reason. The newspaper wrote that prices are growing because most of the transactions deal with the apartments swaps and additional payments.
“In cases when a seller of a big apartment abruptly decides to raise the price by $1000-2000, the buyer will have to follow the same step in order to compensate his or her losses. At a time, higher prices would come ahead of the transaction in order to eliminate potential losses. What happens it is that housing prices run away from reality”.
Local realtors being not fully sincere are the second reason for the growing housing prices, according to Respublika.
“The mechanism is simple. Realtor agencies unexpectedly offer apartments, with one square meter costing $20,000-30,000. Naturally, nobody will buy apartments for this money. However, this is done not to sell an apartment but to affect the statistics. At the end of the month, an average cost of one square meter turns out to be higher than in reality. These are the costs the Belarusian housing market is based on”.
On the same topic, Belaruspartisan.org reprinted the statistics of the official news agency Belta. The data were voiced by Ministry of Statistics spokesperson Alena Kandratsenka. As of January 2008, there were 717,500 Belarusian citizens who needed to improve their housing conditions, 94,400 people up against last year.
“Last year, 38,500 people or 6.2 percent of all citizens in need of better housing conditions received housing in Belarus. Compared to 2006, the number of those who received housing rose by 4500 people or 13 percent”.
Zvyazda newspaper also covered the drop in housing prices in May.
“This year’s “dead season” in May is particular because there are almost no clients interested in the standard housing. On the other hand, there is a huge amount of standard apartments on offer”, notes the newspaper.
It brings the statistics from the Minsk-based realtor Chas Pik. Over 140 one-bedroom letting offers are listed in this agency alone per week. According to Zvyazda, this has led to the drop in housing costs.
“Two-bedroom apartments top the offer list. Chas Pik agency lists over 200 offers in this segment of apartments, with the price ranging between $250-300 per month. Three-bedroom apartment became cheaper last week, with the rent fees from $300 plus utilities bills”.
Sovietskaya Belorussia was the first to notice the drop in housing costs in May. In the article titled “Meter has become more moderate”, the country’s main ideological mouthpiece published comments by Mikalai Prastalupau, the chairman of the Belarusian realtor’s union. In the view of the expert, administrative decisions could seriously influence on the dynamics of the costs.
“Let’s say that it would be logical today to pass a regulation, ordering construction companies in Minsk and regional centers to put 300-400 apartments on auction. The starting price should be as follows: cost prices plus 40 percent or nearly $700 per square meter. This practice could lower the tension in the market”, Mikalai Prastalupau told Sovietskaya Belarussia.
This is how Belarusian media covered the drop in housing prices in May.
One can only add that lower renting prices in spring are a usual thing annually. Those who need to rent an apartment should do it as soon as possible. Those who want to sell their square meters should better wait at least until autumn.
