Friday, December 28 2012 20:25
Housing market of Armenia completes the year 2012 with 1% growth in prices
ArmInfo. The housing market of Armenia (excluding the December index, which will be calculated in Jan 2013) is completing the year 2012 with a slight growth in prices. The state Committee of Real Estate Cadastre of Armenia says that the average market price of housing in Armenia grew by 1% in Jan-Nov 2012 versus Jan-Nov 2011 and amounted to 174.9 thsd AMD per 1 sq m.
The housing prices in apartment buildings in the regions grew by 3.5% to 81.9 thsd AMD per 1 sq m, and in Yerevan dropped by 0.3% to 256.6 thsd AMD per 1 sq m. In general, flats in the countries rose in price by 1.6% to 169.2 thsd AMD per 1 sq m. The prices of private houses rose by 0.4% to 180.5 thsd AMD per 1 sq m; in particular, the prices in Yerevan rose by 0.1% to 274.5 thsd AMD per 1 sq m, and in the regions - by 0.7% to 86.6 thsd AMD per 1 sq m.
In the meantime, independent experts and property market participants have repeatedly spoken of the stagnation of the market throughout 2012. Hakob Baghdasaryan, President of Akcern Corporation, said the recourse in the housing construction was due to the low demand, which directly depends on the citizens' revenues. The large-scale migration from Armenia also had a negative effect. "The private entrepreneurs engaged in construction are now working "carefully", prolonging the construction period to better times, when the possibility to obtain more profit with fewer losses increases", he said. In the meantime, Artyom Pribylsky, Director General of the Yerevan Real Estate Exchange, told ArmInfo that during the crisis the prices dropped and remained on the hook. "The real economic situation in the country has not yet changed, and this means that prices will not change anyhow, unless a new phase of emigration starts", he said.
Many specialists also think that the decline in property prices will be permanent, as the demand for flats is much lower than the supply. As regards the earlier fixed growth in housing prices, it was due to the demand, which, the experts think, was formed "artificially", i.e. it was dictated by the authorities. Many corrupted officials were forced to buy flats in elite buildings meeting their shadow incomes known to the superiors. Today nobody makes the officials buy flats to express their "gratitude", and many of them have put up their property for sale. As a result, the market became over-saturated and led to essential decline in prices in Yerevan.
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