‘My expert opinion is that it is unwise to invest in Yekaterinburg-based real estate because the local market’s pricing policy is anything but transparent. One should only buy a place to live or to do business there. So I wouldn’t trust the claims made by the developer of Admiralskiy housing complex as to the profitability of investing in this construction project. As a matter of fact, local housing is overpriced and is not likely to grow any more expensive in the next few years. On the other hand, given the shrinking number of buildings under construction, the prices are not likely to go down either,’ Unicom Partner Investment & Finance Company’s Deputy GD for Corporate Consulting Dmitriy Zemerov said to an UrBC reporter.

Now OOO Fin-Invest-Stroi, the developer of Admiralskiy housing complex in Yekaterinburg, invited investors to give their money to this project instead of opening bank deposits or heading for the stock market as the latter do not look very appealing at the moment. The company claims that the investors might make 15% to 20% annual profit when selling the apartment a few years later. Incidentally, an investor must pay for the apartment in full right away.

‘I believe this offer is just a promotional one. They will probably find the customers for their apartments, although the housing demand is still quite low and not even close to what it was before the recession began. The prices are not going to go up to the earlier level. It’s natural for the people who deal in realty to think that prices will grow; they believe prices are bound to keep increasing rapidly all the time, but this process has got to stop one day,’ Zemerov explained.