In January-July of this year, 207,669 ownership rights to real estate were registered in Azerbaijan. According to the State Service for Real Estate Affairs of the Ministry of Economy, this is 30.7 percent less than in the same period last year. Of the seven-month indicator, 33,572 were initial registrations and 174,097 re-registrations. This is 29.2 and 31 percent less than a year ago, respectively. In January-July, 33,395 were registered in private residences and cottages, 46,933 in apartments, 120,079 in land plots, 1,921 in non-residential buildings, 4,863 in non-residential land plots, 453 in real estate complexes and in multi-storey residential buildings. State registration of 25 ownership rights.
As the figures show, there is a decline in initial housing registrations. At the same time, the real estate market has been stagnating recently. What is happening? Are changes expected in the real estate market amid the decline in sales?
About the topic “Caspian” We present the newspaper article.
It’s still happening
According to real estate expert Ramil Osmanli, the decline in the registration process has been observed for several years: “In the results announced for the four months of the year, there was a greater decrease in the registration process compared to last year. The six-month results also show that, compared to last year, there is a sharp decrease in the number of transactions. The market has been stagnant and passive in recent years. In the end, we can point to a decrease in the flow of money into the country. of 2022 and early 2023. The resulting stagnation is one of the factors leading to a decrease in the registration of real estate ownership. This process has been observed since the end of last year and is still ongoing.
Apartment prices should come down, but…
According to R. Osmanli, it is not possible to predict that prices will fall because the Azerbaijani real estate market is not free: “The decrease in the number of registrations does not have a serious effect on property prices. Although there is stability in prices for non-residential objects, prices for housing and land, although relatively high, are observed. Real estate prices are formed on the primary housing market. In this case, it is difficult to predict the fall in prices in the near future. It is impossible to predict the future because what is happening in other countries affects the process. From an economic point of view, housing prices should fall by the end of the year. But this is not typical for our real estate market.”
Buyers prefer to wait
According to Elnur Farzaliyev, a real estate expert, the constant rise in prices has led buyers to enter a waiting phase: “For three years now, there have been sharp increases in property prices in large cities, especially in Baku. This increase in recent years has led to a shortage of buyers on the real estate market. After the rise in prices on the market, buyers prefer to take a waiting position.”
Prices for one-bedroom apartments range from 100 to 130 thousand manats.
E. Farzaliyev stated that if earlier people could own an apartment with a mortgage loan, this is no longer possible: “If we look at the previous and earlier sales, we can see that most of the sold properties, especially apartments, were sold with mortgages and intra-bank loans. Most buyers applied for mortgage loans. Since there are people who want to buy an apartment, the sales prices of one-room apartments near the center that can be mortgaged vary between 100,000 and 130,000 manats. When applying for a mortgage loan, the purchasing power of citizens does not match. People who can buy an apartment also expect some kind of depreciation in the real estate market.
There may be a drop in apartment prices.
The expert noted that the reason for the rapid rise in prices is the mass migration of the population to Baku. As demand increases, so do prices. But as the economic situation improves in other areas, this may lead to a decrease in housing prices: “Construction and restoration work has been going on in our liberated areas for almost four years. IDPs are gradually being resettled. In addition, the provision of employment has led to the migration of other people to the territory of Karabakh. Apartments abandoned by IDPs are put up for sale, as their price is lower, which creates conditions for housing to be provided to low-income people. As the number of houses and catering establishments in the capital decreases, apartment prices may fall.
