Home-building drive in Moscow threatens developers' profits

Moscow

MOSCOW'S local government project to build hundreds of thousands of new homes threatens to cause a supply glut, forcing private sector developers to cut back on their own projects and depressing apartment prices, real estate analysts said.

The authorities in Moscow intend to re-house over one million citizens living in decrepit Soviet-era apartments, which they plan to demolish, in new high-rise blocks of flats as part of a 15-year programme.

But officials have said that some of the new housing could be built for sale, in a market where develo…