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Read original →Communal Apartments Make a Comeback: How the Secondary Budget Housing Market Is Changing
High mortgage rates have revived demand for communal apartments. Room prices have risen 9.7-17.5%, but experts warn of fraud risks and problems with aging housing stock. We examine trends in the budget housing market.
AI summary
Against the backdrop of high mortgage rates (up to 22%) and the unavailability of standard housing, Russians are once again turning their attention to communal apartments as a budget alternative. Prices for rooms in communal apartments have increased by an average of 9.7% over the year, in Moscow — by 17.5%, reaching 4.6 million rubles. However, this segment is associated with high legal risks: real estate fraud, multiple owners, and dilapidated housing stock make such transactions extremely dangerous for buyers.
Why Communal Apartments Are Back in the Spotlight
Communal apartments—known as kommunalki—are large apartments divided into separate rooms, with different families living in each. Every family occupies its own room, while the kitchen, bathroom, and toilet are shared by all residents.
The renewed interest in these apartments today is primarily explained by the high key rate (16.5%), which has directly driven up mortgage rates (to 22%) and made purchasing a standard apartment unaffordable for many families. As we wrote earlier, government-supported programs are limited by capsintroduced back in 2018, and currently cover only 50% of housing costs.
On the secondary market today, an average two-bedroom apartment in Moscow costs just over 21 million rubles. According to calculations by Argument Media, at the current key rate, the mortgage payment for a 30-year loan on such an amount exceeds 150–180 thousand rubles, and the total interest overpayment could exceed the apartment's actual cost. As a result, buying a two-bedroom on the secondary market becomes an insurmountable financial burden.
Against this backdrop, communal apartments turn out to be a more budget-friendly and liquid option. For example, in St. Petersburg, the share of those considering kommunalki as a purchase option in the economy housing segment reaches 10%. Though the kommunalka market itself has shrunk by two to three times over the past 20–30 years. It's precisely the shortage of affordable alternatives that makes them visible again in the overall demand structure.
Who's Buying and Under What Terms
According to experts, growing interest in kommunalki began back in late 2022 to early 2023. While buyers of communal apartments often include young families and those seeking starter housing, their ultimate goal is rarely tied to long-term residence. In cases, communal apartments are purchased with the intention of renting them out or with the expectation of buying out all the rooms and reselling.