Unmasking Square Metres

Krasnodar, 4 June. The Sochi realty market expects changes that may be of paramount importance for the city. After the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sochi has been known as an extremely profitable and fraudulent, but now it will have to follow only transparent patterns. 

Presently, there are more than 240 real estate agencies in Sochi. Twelve major companies are members of the Sochi Realtors Guild. Y

ulia Usacheva, President of the Sochi Realtors Guild, explains that the number of private realtors popularly referred to as ‘black brokers’ in the city is very high. These private realtors are causing mayhem in the local realty market.

 She says that some of them come to Sochi for several months just to make quick money by any means. They change their telephone numbers, so that they could not be found after a deal is struck. They are not at all interested in the reputation of the city. 

“To exclude such facts, we consider it necessary to run a single register where all realtors working in the city will be registered,” she said. “This is the only way we, together with the law enforcement bodies and the city authorities, would be able to put things in order in this sphere.” 

Yevgeni Proskurin, Vice President of the Sochi Realtors Guild, says that altogether there are about 9,000 realtors in Sochi, but most of them are engaged in realty sale services very irregularly, which is why in certain moments the number of persons selling realty in Sochi may reach as many as 12,000. 

Artur Karapetyan, agent on commercial realty, also believes that it was high time the realty services market had been made professional by forming a special database, defining the boundaries, and establishing professional associations, behaviour codes, legal basis, and, as a natural result, determining the limits for professional behaviour and for what is allowed together with obligations and accountability. 

Despite the soaring rise in realty prices that started in January 2021, the real estate market in Sochi remains extremely brisk.

 “Understanding that they may have the last chance to buy property in Sochi while the prices have not gone beyond the clouds, buyers are trying to do whatever it takes to strike a deal – which is why the demand began to exceed the offer,” Aleksei Maltsev, ONIX Realty Vice Director, explains. “We are also observing growth of mortgage deals, and the sums of the credits have also grown up considerably.” 

Of course, the private brokers who are used to working half-legally also see the benefits of the current situation. 

“A part of the realty agencies are involved in fraud by publishing fake announcements to attract customers – and then they make them buy a flat in an unauthorized construction project. As a matter of fact, it is the realtors who work as the driver of all these inconveniences with the rising sales,” Vadim Kamalov, Director of ETAGI Krasnodar, says. “This is why such a means of control [as the register of realtors] was thought of. However, no law governs this initiative, which is why only those realtors who want it will cooperate with it – while those who are used to working by quasi-legal shady schemes will continue to work as they are doing now.”

За всеми важными новостями следите в MAX, Telegram, во «ВКонтакте», «Одноклассниках», YouTube и на  Rutube