Real estate prices rise despite slow procurement
As of March 2017, the housing price index (HPI) was 1.01, rising by 0.17 percent since February and by one percent since 2013, according to an independent housing price study conducted by Tenkhleg Zuuch Real Estate Agency.
Compared to March 2016, the housing price index plunged by 3.34 percent, the report stated.
On March 31, out of 471 properties under construction for 89,492 households, 392 were apartments and 79 were single-family homes. Reportedly, only 265 apartments were taking orders, while 89 apartments were not yet for sale, and the construction of 38 apartments had been temporarily halted.
The HPI study was based on the prices of nearly 5,000 properties in Ulaanbaatar.
NEW PROPERTIES
The HPI data showed that the average cost per square meter for a new apartment increased by 0.22 percent compared to the first quarter of 2016, amounting to 2.05 million MNT. This is an increase of 0.29 percent compared to the average cost per square meter in February 2017.
Since January 1, real estate agencies managed to sell 3,490 apartments, as opposed to the 3,660 apartments sold in the first quarter of last year. Experts says that the sale of new apartments dropped by 4.6 percent in the first quarter of 2017 due to a sudden price hike in March.
The cost of real estate hit a record 23.7 percent in March 2014, and since then, it has steadily dropped.
Properties in Sukhbaatar District are the most expensive in the capital, costing an average 2.74 million MNT per square meter, while properties in Songinokhairkhan District are cheapest, averaging 1.58 million MNT per square meter.
OLDER PROPERTIES
The HPI for older properties was 0.91 as of March 31, which is 0.99 percent lower than last month and 6.1 percent lower than March 2016.
The average price for a two-bedroom apartment was slightly under 73 million MNT. Nearly 2,300 old properties have been sold in 2017.
Older two-bedroom apartments are most expensive in Sukhbaatar District, costing 92.4 million MNT on average, and are the least expensive in Songinokhairkhan District, averaging 53.7 million MNT.