The FINANCIAL — A new trend of increased demand for houses has been getting stronger in recent times.
More and more residents of Tbilisi are leaving the dusty districts of the city where the scant green areas seem to be decreasing day by day. Developers as well as real estate companies say that demand for houses is increasing compared to that for apartment buildings.
“Now more people prefer to live in houses rather than apartment buildings,” said Maia Bigvava, PR Manager at Axis.
Statistics of Tbilisi Architecture Service confirm the new trend.
Whereas in 2007 Tbilisi City Hall gave 1,579 permits for house building, in the 8 months of 2011 their number was 2,737. In summer 2011 alone 630 house projects were approved for building.
The average price of one square meter of a residential place in Tbilisi varies from 300 USD up to 1,500 USD.
“The most expensive real estate in the city is still in the district Vake. One square metre in Vake costs 900-1,400 USD. Mtatsminda is also quite popular with an average of 850-1,000 USD for a square meter of residential space. The prices in Vera and Old Tbilisi vary from 600 USD up to 950 USD,” said Goga Kapanadze, owner of real estate company Expert.
Prices of houses are higher than flats and that naturally restricts the number of houses being built.
“The segment of the population with the most home-owner potential is people with quite high incomes. That’s why the share of houses (20%) is five times less than apartment buildings (80%). Even so, houses are still in more demand in comparison to previous years,” Kapanadze said.
“Modern, young families have more of an an interest in living a completely independent lifestyle and so tend to prefer to live in their own houses. Houses are popular with middle aged people with average to high incomes,” said Mariam Zaldastanishvili, Marketing and Artistic Director of Lisi Development.
Lisi Development is working on the huge project Green Town Lisi. Under the project an entire living district will be built on a plot of 355 Ha. Living space will stretch over one fourth of the whole territory of Green Town Lisi. Three types of residential buildings will be built on this territory: 4-floor apartment buildings, townhouses and villas with yards.
“The first steps of the building started in July 2011 and will end in a year’s time. Selling the houses will start in October, but we already have real clients for 30 percent of the residential places. The main demand is for townhouses and flats,” Zaldastanishvili said.
“When the project ends, up to 5,500 families will have the possibility to live there, but in the first stage only 90 residential buildings are planned to be built. 6 of them will be villas. The first model townhouse will be built by the end of 2011,” she added.
Prices differ according to apartment type and size. The area of flats can be from 78 up to 175 square meters. Townhouses and villas are sold with yards. A 100 square meter plot is considered adequate for townhouses and 800 square meters for villas. One square meter of a townhouse costs 1,300 USD and 1,500 USD for a villa. Buyers have to pay 30 percent of the total cost when signing the contract and 70 percent after the apartment is finished.
The standard package of purchase means that houses are sold in the condition of “white framework”. But if the client desires, then Lisi Development can offer any type of renovation or interior decoration.
Apart from residential apartments, the project Green Town Lisi also includes: the Givi Zaldastanishvili American Academy where up to 250 pupils can study, running and bicycle tracks, sports squares, eateries, a spa, an aqua park, temple and sulphur baths.
In spite of the increased demand most of the big developing companies are not building houses. However there are lots of small building companies which provide this service.
Tbilisi City Hall Property Management Agency is permanently holding auctions and anyone can buy land in Tbilisi there.
“Selling land has to satisfy some requirements. For example it must not be near a high voltage transmission electro line, not be in a specifically “green” area, ravine, road, sidewalk, water pipes, cemetery etc.” said Davit Chedia, Head of Tbilisi City Hall Property Management Agency.
“The average price of one square metre of ground in Tbilisi is 251 GEL,” he added.
After buying the land, it’s necessary to get permission for the housing project. Tbilisi City Hall offers several projects for free. However the land owner can create his/her own original project.
There are several firms who prepare projects and draw them up. They manage all the technical issues related to the project. The cost of the service is about 1,000-1,500 GEL.
About 15 days after entering the project at City Hall, they confirm permission for the projects and give a period of up to two years to finish the building.
Building a 100 square meter structure costs about 15,000 USD.
“I am soon to be married. My fiancée and I wanted to live in our own house and have decided to build it ourselves,” said Zaza Usuhadze, 24. “However the prices of houses are quite high. As our income is not enough, we decided to build it with the assistance of our relatives.”
“First of all we privatized the land and received permission to build one of the project offered by City Hall. We didn’t hire people to do the building but did it ourselves. So we managed to cut expenses significantly. The house is currently being renovated and we will soon move in to our new home,” he said.
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