Office real estate in Irkutsk has become much cheaper, in February 2009 prices fell 30 percent from last year, and rent 20 percent. The article gives current district rates and explains how the market, after peaking in spring 2008, declined. An expert also predicts further shrinkage of the commercial and office real estate market in 2009 and the first half of 2010.
Office real estate in Irkutsk in February 2009 had fallen in price by 30% compared with the figures from a year earlier, and rents by 20%. As reported at the regional congress of realtors by marketing analyst Tatyana Galushchenko of the Active Group, the price of commercial real estate began to rise in 2002, reached its peak in spring 2008, after which a decline began: by 10-15% per quarter.At present, the cost of office real estate on the secondary market in Irkutsk is as follows: in the Kirovsky District – 81 thousand rubles per square meter, in the Oktyabrsky District – 60 thousand rubles, in the Sverdlovsky District – 50-55 thousand rubles. In the Kuibyshevsky District (the Barrikad, Radishcheva area) and the Leninsky District of the city, office prices are approximately the same: from 43 to 45 thousand rubles per sq. m. In the primary market, commercial real estate costs about 85-90 thousand rubles in the Kirovsky District, 50-55 thousand rubles in the Oktyabrsky District, and 45-50 thousand rubles in the Sverdlovsky District.
Office rental rates began to decline in December 2008, and by now they have fallen by 20%. Today, in the Kirovsky District, an office can be rented for 800 rubles per sq. m, in the Oktyabrsky District – for 700 rubles, in the Sverdlovsky District – for 600 rubles, in the Kuibyshevsky District – for 530 rubles, and in the Leninsky District – for 400 rubles.
According to Tatyana Galushchenko’s forecast, a decline in the capacity of the commercial and office real estate market is expected in 2009 and the first half of 2010.