Runaway real estate: price rise may cool

The price of real estate in Moscow may have stopped its frantic growth by the end of July, experts say. The month’s average price per square metre just topped $3,500, a one per cent rise against 1.8 per cent in June.

Top-of-the-range real estate is rising more slowly than budget housing.  Market watchers put it down to more availability – Moscow has built ten per cent more stock than last year. Analyst sentiment is that prices will rise by 50 per cent year-on-year in 2006 and 2007, compared to a massive doubling in the previous 12 months.