The coronavirus pandemic and especially the quarantine imposed because of it have made adjustments in all spheres of life of Russians. The Moscow rental market also did not stand aside. Hiring rates were rising before the quarantine, and they were down 80% during the quarantine, but by the end of the year, the market was starting to recover. Due to the closed borders in the past year has undergone changes and in the portrait of the tenant.
What will happen to prices and demand for rental apartments in 2021?
No changes are expected
In the near future, global changes in the rental market should not be expected. In 2020, the long-term rental housing market in Moscow was affected by several factors related to the pandemic - from a drop in consumer interest in April-May amid restrictive measures to a shortage of supply in early autumn due to a partial recovery in business activity and seasonal growth in demand. Now the market has recovered: rental rates have stabilized, there is no quarantine. In the future, rental rates, as before, will depend on fluctuations in supply and demand in the segment. In 2021, in the absence of external stresses comparable to a pandemic, we expect further stabilization of the market situation.
Some owners will raise the prices, but in the end they will be equal to the level of those who did not raise the rent. In the mass segment, at the end of the year, the rates decreased by a maximum of 5%, and they will remain at the same level. But rental prices in the capital can be seriously adjusted if a bill is passed that provides for the creation of a rental housing platform for mandatory accounting of rental relations.
As soon as all the restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 are lifted, the capital's rental market will revive, while there are no prerequisites for an increase in the cost, some reduction is possible.
Supply exceeds demand
At the beginning of 2021, more apartments were put up on the Moscow rental housing market than a year earlier — this was due to the outflow of tenants associated with the pandemic. Many went to the country or to their home town due to work remotely and still has not returned. At the same time, the demand for housing in the capital fell by 20-30%. An even greater increase in the number of apartments for rent is likely to be observed by the end of the year. This is a pool of apartments that were bought in the wake of low mortgage rates and that will be commissioned in 2021.
In January, the market is gradually reviving — the number of requests from tenants from other regions has increased, people are beginning to move around the country and are looking for housing in the capital. More and more requests come from young professionals and families with children. How actively this situation will develop in the future depends largely on how quickly the restrictions associated with the COVID-19 epidemic will be lifted. As soon as they are removed, we expect that the market will come to life.