Anastasia Gizatova: ‘Housing will become cheaper if instalments and mortgages are banned. But this is unlikely to happen’
At the moment, the cost of a square metre reaches 243,000 rubles
Kazan is catching up with Saint Petersburg in the cost of housing in new buildings — the price tag for one square metre in the cities is 243 and 266,000 rubles, respectively. Only Moscow is more expensive. And there is no point in hoping for a drop in prices in the capital of Tatarstan, Realnoe Vremya experts are sure. Moreover, the growth will most likely continue. Read more about the situation on the residential real estate market in the report.
Kazan in third place in terms of housing costs
Kazan is confidently striving for the title of the third capital of Russia — at least in terms of housing costs. The city took third place in terms of the cost of new apartments, second only to Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Thus, in May 2025, the average cost per square metre in new buildings in Kazan reached 243,000 rubles, according to data from the Yandex Real Estate service. In Saint Petersburg and Moscow, this figure was 266 and 441,000 rubles, respectively.
It is noteworthy that Kazan has become the only metropolis in Russia where the cost per square meter exceeds 200,000 rubles, with the exception of two capitals. The top five also included Nizhny Novgorod (194,000 rubles) and Chelyabinsk (175,000 rubles).
In general, in Russian cities with a population of over a million, the price per square metre in new buildings was 187,000 rubles. Over the month, it has grown by 0.8%.
“Such activity on the market is typical for the current season, but the formation of the trend will depend on the regulator's decision on the key rate at the next meeting and further measures to support the construction industry,” said Yandex Real Estate Commercial Director Yevgeny Belokurov.
“Prices cannot be stopped”
As head of the Happy Home real estate agency Anastasia Gizatova told Realnoe Vremya, the constant growth in housing prices in Kazan is due to two factors. Firstly, the higher cost of land for development, and secondly, growing demand.
The growth in prices is also stimulated by the insufficient number of new projects within the city, the expert believes:
“Compared to many other regions, we do not have many offers for new buildings, especially within the city. If you take not the exits from Kazan, but the city itself, it turns out that we have practically no new residential complexes.”
As for further forecasts, Gizatova is sure: there is no point in waiting for prices to fall or at least for growth to stop.
“Housing will become cheaper if installments and mortgages are banned. But this is unlikely to happen. Therefore, I believe that prices will not fall and it is impossible to stop them, because inflation does not stop. And real estate cannot help but react to inflationary processes,” she painted a sad picture.
“The impudence of developers”
The same reasons for expensive housing in Kazan were named by the head of the Quartet real estate agency, Rustem Safin. In a conversation with the publication, he said that demand in the capital of Tatarstan remains high:
In addition, the behaviour of the developers themselves plays a role: “The rise in prices is strongly connected with the impudence of the developers.”
“Kazan is ahead of other regions in terms of economic development — it is not for nothing that it is called the third capital. There is not such a large migration from Kazan, but people move here from other cities. Demand is supported not only by locals. Accordingly, developers take advantage of this and raise prices, understanding that people will continue to buy,” explained Safin.
At the same time, it is not entirely correct to say that the cost of housing in Moscow is higher than in Kazan, Safin pointed out. The fact is that in the capital, the price per square meter always includes the entire social infrastructure — the developer builds a school, a kindergarten, a clinic and gives the facilities to the city for free. Kazan companies do not always provide this.
Safin's forecasts for the further development of the situation were even more pessimistic. He modelled two situations:
“If family mortgages are approved for up to 14 years, prices will rise by 5-10%. If the key rate is lowered, and it will most likely be lowered, demand will increase again, and prices will rise accordingly. Deposits will also be returned — people will invest in real estate. Many experts have already noted that this will ensure explosive demand.”
“There is an option in which prices will fall. On 1 July, the Central Bank may introduce regulations that tighten the requirements for mortgage approval. Then many people will not be able to buy an apartment due to a mortgage refusal, and this will lead to stagnation in prices. In addition, if you spin the news about this, the second half of June will lead to a surge in demand and again — an increase in prices.”
