A square meter like a new car. That is the price paid for the most expensive apartments in our city
Mysteries of “Golden triangle”.
We have already mentioned that the most expensive apartments in the city are located in the well-known to all realtors “Golden triangle” (an area bounded by Nevsky prospect and the Fontanka and Neva rivers embankments). The prices per square meter for apartments located in the historical center of any European city are nearly equal, whereas in our city the picture is completely different. So what are the prices in the “Golden triangle” now? Director of NEVSKY PROSTOR AGENCY Alexander Ginovker, a vice-president of Real Estate Association of Saint-Petersburg, will help us look into this complicated problem.
- As far as I know, a middle-quality apartment in this area might go for 5-6 thousand US dollars per square meter. Why should buyers pay so much?
- If those apartments are valued from a purely practical point of view, it may seem that the buyers really overpay. For example, high-quality properties in new elite buildings on Krestovsky island sell at considerably less prices. A square meter there costs 2 -3 thousand US dollars.
- The buyers of elite apartments (even of middle-quality ones) acquire not properly apartments but real rarities in the center. And they are ready to part with considerable sums “only for” the location and a special aura peculiar to old
- What do you mean by “a middle-quality apartment”?
- It is very difficult to find an apartment in the “Golden triangle” which meets absolutely all requirements to elite property. As a rule, they are often middle-quality apartments that lack for some item peculiar to elite-class property. For example, the staircase might be poor or there is not a water view or the building itself is not very attractive.
- And what if everything is correct, beautiful and overlooks water?
- Then its price rises up to 8-10 thousand per square meter.
- And where are the most elite and expensive buildings located?
- They are on the Moika and Fontanka rivers, Griboedova canal and Dvortsovaya embankment, that is in all those places where you can admire splendid canal and river views. The buildings near Marsovo Field do not belong there but are also very expensive. Instead of canals and rivers you can admire Eternal Fire from your apartment windows. Similar apartments are rarely found not only in Saint-Petersburg but throughout
- And what about Nevsky prospect?
- Nevsky prospect itself is not attractive to well-off buyers because it is too noisy, dirty and overcrowded. Besides, there is practically no residential space in high-quality buildings on Nevsky prospect: all is occupied by offices. But apartments on “a quiet Nevsky” (as we call streets adjacent to Nevsky prospect), which are actually
- Is any apartment in the above areas so expensive?
Not at all. Only façade apartments without any drawbacks. If an apartment is on the upper floor without a lift, it will cost considerably less. The same about courtyard-located apartments. For instance, apartments in the second-third courtyards on the Moika river can be bought at $1200-1500 per square meter. But this is for the time being. On occupying such buildings by well-off buyers followed by the courtyards reconstruction, the prices for those apartments will rise quickly and in a few years a square meter there will cost 4-5 thousand. As early as 2003 NEVSKY PROSTOR AGENCY sold a second-courtyard apartment on Griboedova Kanal embankment for $1000 per square meter. Now this apartment is for sale again, but at a fourfold price! You have to admit that no bank will give you 100% annual rate in hard currency.
Source "Saint-Petersburg Vedomosti"
26 January 2006
