Russia has been preparing for the World Cup for eight years. During this time, three modern stadiums were built in Moscow: for Spartak, CSKA and Dynamo. Forbes found out how the economy of each project is arranged and whether they can recoup the investments of investors. .... Difficulties with return on investment can wait for the VTB Arena. The project is being implemented on the site of the historical arena of the Moscow-based Dynamo entirely with the money of the state bank. “Dynamo” was part of it directly by land, and today it retained only 7.7% in the developer of the management company Dynamo. VTB owns 75% minus one share. The remaining 17.3% is controlled by Cyprus-based Eflen Construction Ltd., which, according to Kommersant, is connected with the structures of Arkady and Boris Rotenberg. The total cost of construction is about $ 1.5 billion, of which the stadium and the commercial component each account for $ 750 million. The arena, designed for 27,000 seats, was included in the Russian bid for the World Cup, but in the fall of 2012 it became known that championship games would not be held there. The opening of the stadium itself has already been postponed twice. It was originally planned that the arena will receive the first fans on October 22, 2017, on the birthday of the legend Dynamo Lev Yashin. Then the date was called June 5, 2018, however, and by this time the stadium did not have time to prepare. The commercial part of the project consists of a five-star hotel managed by Hyatt Regency with 298 rooms, office buildings with a total rentable area of ​​56,900 square meters. m, as well as the residential part of 1000 apartments. The office part is now filled only by 13%. One building area of ​​9000 square meters. m in November 2016 bought the structures of billionaire Igor Rybakov. The amount of the transaction has not been disclosed, but a similar building in the complex is now sold at a price of 324,500 rubles per 1 sq. M. m, indicates ILM managing partner Andrei Lukashev. Thus, Rybakov’s structures could pay up to 3 billion rubles. Read more: http://www.forbes.ru/milliardery/362941-gorod-spartaka-kak-zarabatyvayut-na-futbolnyh-stadionah-moskvy

Increasing the base rate of value added tax (VAT) from 18% to 20% will lead to a slight increase in the cost of all processes, both during the construction phase and during the operation of the building, experts say. ILM managing partner Andrei Lukashev notes that the developer’s profitability will decrease by about the same 2%. "It can be mathematically calculated," he says. At the same time, this will not affect the final cost for the buyer, the expert assures, explaining that the developers compensate for the losses by reducing the size of the discount. “We talked with several developers, none of them is going to increase the cost,” Lukashev specifies. Read more: https://realty.ria.ru/news_cre/20180614/1522735563.html

Perhaps, lately, this is the most frequently asked question for our company consultants. Everyone is worried about the instability of the Russian economy and its dependence on the political situation, which has an impact on all spheres of life. Does the increase in the exchange rate affect the rental rate? Of course. Another question is how important it is. Today, the Moscow office real estate market is in short supply of high-quality “A” and “B +” class office premises, which have been in great demand in the last couple of years. This trend leads to an increase in rental rates in such premises. According to analysts, the rental rate in high-quality premises by the end of 2019 - early 2020 will increase by 15-20%. This trend leads to a return to the “owner’s market”. It is necessary to allocate a separate category of premium objects of class "A", owned by large, often foreign owners, they still have foreign currency rental rates. Of course, such objects are subject to the influence of foreign exchange rates. But for the peace of both parties, lease agreements with these business centers imply fixing the exchange rate, usually with a currency corridor method (fixed minimum threshold of currency value and maximum) with a validity period for the entire contract period, which gives a guarantee to the tenant that is more than a certain amount he will not spend on rent. An important impact on the rental rate has a law. A couple of years ago, property taxes began to be charged not on the basis of the book value of the property, but on its cadastral price. This led to an increase in the tax burden in low-quality premises located in sought-after locations. The increased financial burden of the owner has led to an increase in the rental price in these premises. Let's sum up. At the moment, the change in the exchange rate that shook Russia a couple of weeks ago had no effect on the office real estate market, in which the rental rate is fixed in ruble terms. However, the cost of renting in quality premises of class “A” becomes higher due to the lack of vacancies in them. Tenants should hurry to find a new office, as high-quality areas leave the market every day, and new construction is expected to be at a record low in the last 4 years.