Kennel for millions: what the apartment market offers to the distraught buyers

After all, buying a kennel with a total area of 13 square meters for millions of rubles is not madness? But people buy it without knowing the consequences.

Julia Suntsova

The area of studios in most Russian cities starts today from "20 squares". But, having carefully studied the offer, you can also meet "living rooms" in which a wardrobe and a sofa can hardly fit.

Micro-studios are also included in the projects of developers, and the "Japanese trend" seems to continue for all the crisis years, and not only.

How can builders try to make even the smallest apartments comfortable for one or two people, but is it possible to find something positive in such records?

The real estate community analyzed the market for new buildings in 70 Russian cities and made the top 10 smallest studio apartments.

Where do they sell the most compact housing and how much does it cost?

The smallest studio was found in Novosibirsk. But Moscow, oddly enough, in terms of micro-offers, trails in the tail of the rating, second only to Tyumen.

10th place: Tyumen

The last place in the hit parade is in Tyumen. LCD "Salyut" is building a new building next to the historical center of the city, on 2nd Lugovaya Street. The minimum dimensions of the studio - 17.76 square meters. m. The entrance hall and the bathroom account for almost 6 squares, which allows you to fit a bath in the bathroom instead of a shower. Another plus is that the city center and the main attractions can be reached on foot. It is also known from advertising proclamations that the residential complex will provide the best views of the festive fireworks in the city. But it will be possible to watch them only from the window: the balcony is not included in the offer.

The starting price of the option is 2.3 million rubles (137 thousand rubles / sq. m). This is much higher than the average price of a "square" in Tyumen (102 thousand rubles/sq.m), however, the new building is already at the stage of commissioning.

9th place: Moscow

Moscow, to everyone's surprise, is in the penultimate place of honor. Although in experiments with layouts before that, the capital has always been ahead of everyone else. A couple of years ago, the world learned about apartments with an area of 11-12 square meters in the Russian capital.

These options are now out of stock. The smallest studio in Moscow at 17.7 sq.m. was found in a 25-storey skyscraper in the Lilac Park residential area. The layout includes a dining area, a bed and a bathroom. There is no balcony. The price - 7.3 million rubles (> 400 thousand rubles / sq.m.) - is already significantly higher than the capital's market, despite the fact that the delivery of the house was announced only for 2024.

8th place: Kemerovo

A studio of the same size, but much cheaper, is being sold in the capital of Kuzbass. In LCD on the street. Tukhachevsky offers options with an area of 17.6 sq m, where there was a place for a bath in the bathroom, and the apartment can even boast a small loggia. A new building is rented out in six months and costs 1.4 million rubles (80 thousand rubles / sq. m). - the price is average in the range of prices in the primary housing market in Kemerovo.

7-6 places: Voronezh and Lipetsk

The seventh and sixth places were shared by Voronezh and Lipetsk - the area of the smallest studios in new buildings is the same here - 17 "squares". The layouts are also similar: a standard kitchenette combined with a bedroom and a working area, a combined bathroom.

In Voronezh, this option is sold in the residential complex on Rostovskaya Street. In the neighborhood - a large forest park, to the center - 15 minutes drive. The price is 934 thousand rubles (55 thousand rubles / sq. m.), which is significantly lower than the market (74 thousand rubles / sq. m.). But the delivery of the house will take a long time - until mid-2024.

In Lipetsk, a 17-meter studio was found in a house on Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street. It costs 1.3 million (80 thousand rubles / sq. m) - this is a third higher than the average market prices. The house has already been sold.

5th place: Tver

In Tver, there was a studio with an area of 16.68 square meters. m. and costing 1.7 million rubles (103 thousand rubles / sq. m.). The complex on Medovaya Street, in a residential complex of the same name, was put into operation not so long ago. The main plus is a low-rise project surrounded by a pine forest, and the city, as the developer promises, is only a five-minute drive away.

4th place: Novorossiysk

Even smaller footage, even higher prices: Novorossiysk, a studio of 15.7 "squares" is being sold for 4.5 million (290 thousand rubles / sq. M.), Which is twice as high as the average market prices in Novorossiysk.

3rd place: Sochi

In the top three on the pedestal - the main resort of the country. In Sochi, a "dormitory" with an area of 15.3 square meters is offered. m. in a newly built residential complex. A mini-studio in the shape of a square dictates only one layout option - the kitchenette, workplace and sleeping area are inseparable and completely occupy the space around the perimeter of the apartment. Such minimalism is not cheap - 3.4 million rubles. (220 thousand rubles / sq. m.), which, however, is lower than the average city prices in Sochi (266 thousand rubles / sq. m.).

2nd place: St. Petersburg

Silver medalist - St. Petersburg. In the bottomless quarters of the northern capital, apartments are found for any footage and budget. The most modest layouts are in apart-hotels.

Almost in the center of the city, next to Ligovsky Prospekt, in new apartments under construction, a studio with an area of 13.8 square meters is available for purchase. m. The tightness of the dwelling is brightened up by three-meter ceilings, a compact kitchen, a niche under the bed and separate storage areas. This format of the dwelling makes it easy to transform the dwelling into a hotel segment. Due to the proximity of delivery, the price tag for the most modest options starts from 5.6 million rubles, and the cost of a “square” exceeds 400 thousand rubles, which is twice as high as the average prices for new buildings in St. Petersburg.

1st place: Novosibirsk

The leader in the ranking is the capital of Siberia. A 13-meter studio is for sale in a 24-storey high-rise almost in the center of the city, on Kropotkinskaya Street. Only a wardrobe and a bed fit into such a footage. A small balcony, a metro station not far from home and an extremely affordable price - 945 thousand rubles, which is a quarter lower than the average city prices. A serious minus: this is a long-term construction: the deadline for the completion of the new building was scheduled for the end of 2019, but the ribbon was never cut.

Minimalism in the real estate market - what's next

In most million-plus cities in Russia, for example, in Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, miniature studios are almost never for sale. The area of apartments in new buildings starts from 19-20 square meters. All small-sized options were likely swept away by the waves of last year's demand, real estate experts say.

Small spaces of 15-16 square meters often appear in the housing of new buildings, especially in megacities. But, as a rule, the offer is limited.

Micro-apartments are cheaper than full-fledged studios, but hardly anyone buys them for personal living. Such options are more likely to attract investors - for subsequent post-tax resale or rental.

- Apartment minimalism and even a further reduction in space, most likely, will be with us for a long time. The cost of a “square” is growing, mortgage payments are increasing, benefits are canceled in this area, and the actual incomes of citizens are falling. Many buyers are ready to make room, to sacrifice space for the sake of "their own corner," notes Andrey Dobry, the head of the federal real estate database Restate.ru.

The project of creating intercity agglomerations, the growth of cities inevitably gives rise to "humans" - disputes about their ugliness, risks and increasing depression among their inhabitants will never stop. But as the market shows, modern inhabitants of megacities are ready to neglect their own convenience and comfort for the sake of “solitude”. All of them secretly and openly dream of a large country house, but in practice these desires have little effect.

Studies show that Russians do not live and lead their lives the way they would like. Most often they do not come true: the height of the house - no more than 12 floors, building density, footage, ecology. But there is only one reason for unsatisfied desires: the financial factor. The inaccessibility of housing is forcing millions of Russians to choose not what they really want and make endless compromises.

The global trend is growing urbanization.

According to the World Economic Forum, by 2050 the proportion of the world's urban population will increase from the current 55% to 68%, crossing the threshold of 6.5 billion people. A private house in these conditions will become even more rare, and low-rise apartments and the comfort segment in cities will become even more inaccessible. Real estate market experts predict further "renovation" in Russian million-plus cities: the number of floors will no longer be reduced, the area of apartments will be reduced. It is quite possible that things will come to the "Japanese version", and a multifunctional coupe apartment for 9-10 squares will not be such an exclusive in the Russian metropolis.

Tiny apartments are depression and the destruction of the family institution

But what do these trends mean for human health and the psyche? The “gold standard” in the world is five floors, this is the perfect balance between the development of infrastructure and comfort for living. Everything else leads to traffic collapse, lack of parking spaces, queues in clinics, kindergartens, schools and even access elevators.

The more a person is cut off from the earth, the worse he feels inside. The very way of life in densely populated skyscrapers affects all its residents. After 45 years, a person can especially acutely feel superfluous, lonely and unfulfilled in this "urban ark", psychologists say.

The formula in tight quarters and not offended is hopelessly outdated. Crowding in tiny city apartments does not unite, but leads to mental disorders, nervous breakdowns, family quarrels, says Nadezhda Dvoskina, a member of the Association for Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy.

Location and price when choosing an apartment are far from the final needs of a person. The healthy needs of any individual are the ability to invite guests, arrange a personal life, find a place in it for growing children or aging parents. Odnushka in the range of 16-26 squares does not take into account the personal needs of a person and provokes quarrels, conflicts, stress, war for territory, and as a result - divorces, family breakdown. The minimum start for cultivating a healthy "cell of society" - a married couple with children - is 45 square meters. The family no longer considers all other options as their permanent home, but as a transit point, a place to spend the night between business trips, an alternative to a hotel, an occasional shelter, and everything that follows from this, the expert notes.

*Woland is a fictional character in the 1937 novel The Master and Margarita by the Russian (Soviet) author Mikhail Bulgakov.