The first discussion this year, its hosts, architects Sergei Trukhanov and Igor Bevzenko, devoted almost the most popular type of residential real estate in modern Moscow - apartments. It's no secret that in terms of price-location-area ratio, they are much more attractive than ordinary apartments, but is the widespread “cloning” of apartments so good for the city? In order to get an answer to this question, the organizers invited representatives of the authorities, leading Moscow architects, investors and realtors to Roof Point.
The first to speak on the burning topic was the chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov, who was quite categorical in his assessment of the phenomenon called “apartments”. “In fact, this word today is used to describe illegal residential construction. Under the guise of creating temporary housing, large complexes are being erected in the city, which are not provided with infrastructure in any way, which sooner or later inevitably leads to social tension, Kuznetsov is sure. - In some Dubai, apartments are really used for several weeks a year, and families who come to them do not need anything except the beach, but in Moscow this is nothing more than a fiction. Here people settle in apartments for at least several years, and in this sense, such housing is no different from ordinary apartments, only kindergartens, clinics and laundries are not provided. And it is cheaper and easier to build apartments, since there is practically no regulatory framework regulating this type of real estate today, and investors are willing to use it. Therefore, for now, I tend to see only disadvantages in the apartments - for the city they are increasingly becoming a source of social excesses and tensions."
Aleksey Belousov, Commercial Director of Capital Group, spoke on behalf of the very investors who today prefer to build apartments. “Today, designing apartments in Russia is the art of creating something for which there are no standards,” he confirmed. And he admitted: the lack of standards often really facilitates the creation and implementation of a project, since there is no need to think about the notorious insolation, or about observing extremely inconvenient redevelopment rules. At the same time, Aleksey Belousov reminded that there is no limit on the duration of residence in the apartments and that they can be temporarily registered, which automatically removes the question "to be or not to be."
Architect Pavel Andreev believes that the current rise of apartments is connected, among other things, with the "postluzhkovsky" course of urban planning policy. “When it was decided that less housing and more hotels should be built in the center of the capital, investors had no choice but to go into the apartment segment. The projects were renamed and, so to speak, edited, the explanatory notes were rewritten … By the way, this process continues. " The architect agrees that the oversaturation of the market with apartments is fraught with a potential social threat. “Theoretically, the owner of a non-residential premises can register the right of ownership in court, register and, after the fact, demand that the city authorities be provided with all social benefits”.
Architect Boris Levyant disagreed with his colleague, who believes that the "target audience" of apartments is people who are looking for an opportunity to invest and get the most affordable housing in a good area of Moscow, and they often do not care about the social infrastructure. The head of ABD architects urged the audience not to compare apartments with traditional housing at all - in his opinion, this is a fundamentally different product that helps Moscow develop the rental housing market.“I am convinced that it is more correct to build apartment buildings that will correspond to the typology of apartments than to completely divert the rental housing market into the shadow sector.” The architect also recalled that no one builds apartments in neighborhoods - most often they are included in multifunctional complexes that are provided with infrastructure (albeit not always social), therefore, to consider them a source of serious social threat, in his opinion, is rather ridiculous. “When we design a multifunctional complex, we, of course, think about the quality of the housing that is part of it, and then, as it seems to me, it’s the Moskomarkhitektura’s business to monitor the quality of the projects.”
Anna Sokolova, Director of the Analytics and Consulting Department of Metrium Group, cited interesting statistics: a few years ago, apartments were presented on the market mainly by elite projects (for example, in Moscow City), but since 2012, many business proposals have appeared. and economy class, and today apartments account for about 30% of the market. According to the expert, it is the relatively low cost of apartments that makes them so attractive to buyers today - for many people this is the only opportunity to legally live in the capital. Anna Sokolova also reminded that in such an overpopulated city as Moscow, living "by registration" does not always guarantee attachment to a polyclinic or a kindergarten.
The chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov, agreed with this argument. It is true that everything is not very good with the provision of housing with infrastructure in the city, and the solution of this problem is one of the priority areas of work of the authorities. “In fact, today, instead of giving subsidies for rental housing, the city, in view of the legislative lack of regulation of this practice, is forced to give ready-made housing to those on the waiting list. As a result, more budget funds are spent, and fewer people are provided with housing”. To change this situation, according to Sergei Kuznetsov, it is possible only by acting in a comprehensive manner, namely by modifying the legislative framework and at the same time providing infrastructure to the already built housing, and without dividing apartment buildings and apartment complexes. Since the city at one time issued a permit for the construction of a residential facility, it means that now it is responsible for it. By the way, one step towards making the procedure for designing and approving apartments more transparent has already been taken: not so long ago, an official definition of this type of real estate was formulated. Apartments are now officially considered "a living room with a kitchen, with a total area of more than 40 sq. M. m ". As the chief architect of Moscow hopes, situations when, when issuing a GPZU, an investor declares the construction of a hotel, and in fact creates housing, this will help to avoid. At least the city does not intend to close its eyes to such "tricks" anymore. As for the further development of the apartment market, Sergei Kuznetsov used the past round table to voice the official position of Moscow on this matter. The city does not intend to deny the need for this type of real estate, and even more so to ignore it: “the correct way - albeit difficult - is to accurately describe all the necessary procedures and get a normally working result”.
