The situation on the real estate market in Armenia remains stable. Although there is no last year’s activity, but, as experts note, the number of purchase and sale transactions has not decreased.
“The number of transactions is almost the same as it was a few months ago, prices remain unchanged, there is no tendency to reduce them,” said Vahe Danielyan, director of the Kentron real estate agency, in an interview with a correspondent.
At the same time, he notes that the market was overactive last year.
Recall that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which began in February 2022, had a great impact on the real estate market in Armenia, due to the large flow of relocators.
To note, according to statistics, in April 2023, 3,889 real estate purchase and sale transactions were recorded in the real estate market in Armenia, the number of which decreased by 598 compared to last year.
According to Vahe Danielyan, the statistics sometimes do not reflect the real picture of the number of both transactions and real estate prices.
“In this case, it can also be noted that the data cannot be called complex, since the number of donation transactions has increased in Armenia in recent years. Many avoid the wording “purchase and sale”, and the reason lies in the requirement of the law to carry out transactions exceeding 300 thousand drams in a non-cash way,” the director of the agency said.
There is also a difference in real estate prices, presented by the RA Statistical Committee.
In particular, the average market price of an apartment in the first zone of the Kentron (Center) administrative district is 1 million drams (about $2.6 thousand) per square meter. Meanwhile, according to Vahe Danielyan, in the small center there are new buildings where 1 square meter costs $6,000, in new buildings on Aram and Yekmalyan streets – $5-6 thousand, and in Stalinist houses on Abovyan street. 1 square meter is estimated at 4-5 thousand dollars.
According to him, there are quite a few buyers of apartments among the citizens of the Russian Federation, who since last year, due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, as well as the instability of the dollar, began to purchase real estate in Armenia. Most of these citizens are Armenians living in Russia.
“People are trying to invest with their savings, and the best investment is the purchase of real estate. Locals also buy real estate. And it is difficult to say what developments are expected in the future,” Vahe Danielyan emphasizes.
It should be noted that according to the Statistical Committee, in April 2023, citizens of the Russian Federation bought 89 real estate objects, and sold 201 real estate objects, mainly apartments.
According to V. Danielyan, at the moment one should not expect a recession in the real estate market in Armenia, and no one, in his words, can predict further developments in the market.
“Perhaps, after some time, prices will decrease, or vice versa – there will be a rise in price again. That is, it is impossible to make predictions. The market is very sensitive and any political changes have a big impact on prices. If the situation in the country is stable, there is no threat of war, then real estate prices rise, if the situation is unstable, then investments are not made,” he explained.
Unlike real estate prices, rental prices have declined, however, have not yet returned to their previous levels.
The director of the agency noted that in February-March 2022, real estate prices in the Republic of Armenia doubled: a similar trend continued until September. When mobilization was announced in the Russian Federation and many citizens arrived in Armenia, housing prices rose again at the end of September, and then began to decline. However, according to him, the prices raised at the first level remain at the same level.
According to Vahe Danielyan, the data of the Statistical Committee on the housing rental market also do not reflect the full picture, since not in all cases the tenant and the landlord enter into an agreement on the rental of housing.
