Monday, April 22 2013 21:24
Experts: Mortgage lending has not reached near border areas
ArmInfo. Continuous decline of real estate prices in Armenia since 2008 has reached 30%-40%. However, in the middle of 2012 the market experienced certain growth, Vahe Danielyan, Director of Kentron Real Estate Agency, told ArmInfo behind the scenes of the Realtor 2012 competition, on April 20.
He said the last years' growth of the real estate prices is largely a result of the intensified mortgage lending, including implementation of mortgage projects, such as Affordable Housing for Young Families implemented by the National Mortgage Company. The expert explained the growth also with the fact that the impact of the global financial and economic crisis is not longer acute.
Danielyan said that residential real estate is in demand mainly in the outskirts of Yerevan where prices are relatively low, because the housing prices under the currently implemented mortgage projects should not exceed 16 million drams. Such housing prices are registered, for instance, in the Avan, Nor-Nork administrative districts unlike the city center where housing is expensive.
At the same time, almost no real estate transactions are registered in the regions, especially in the near border areas, Denielyan said. He explained that mortgage-lending projects do not apply to remote areas. "Mortgage lending that has become the basis of the real estate market in Yerevan has not reached the near border areas," the realtor said. Another reason of the idling real estate market in the regions is high migration rate, the expert said. In the near border regions migration rate is higher while the living standards there yield to the average ones in the country.
Another representative of the realty market in Armenia, Director of Viva Realty Agency Edward Haroutiunyan said that the real estate market has awakened after the election period, but it will not reach the pre-crisis level in the nearest future. He thinks that apartments are largely in demand now unlike a few years ago when people used to buy land lots for housing construction. As for commercial real estate, it is always in demand, he said, but there is no relevant supply.
"Demand for commercial real estate is specific enough. Nearly 70% of customers prefer commercial real estate for low prices and in a favorable place," Haroutiunyan said.
Realtor 2012 Competition was organized by MyRealty.am portal in Yerevan on April 20. The winners of the competition were 6 realty agencies, including Kentron and Viva Realty.
By data of the State Real Estate Register of Armenia, the average housing price in Armenia in Feb 2013 grew 0.4%. As compared to the same period of 2012, this indicator grew 5.5% to 181.4 thousand drams per 1 sq m in average in the country. In Feb 2013 14,571 transactions were registered, with a 46.6% growth versus Jan 2013 and a 1.3% growth versus Feb 2012.
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