"All transactions will be frozen." The land has been self-isolated from the buyers.

There is a paradoxical situation on the land market in St. Petersburg. Due to the active beginning of the year, the transactions volume has increased sharply. But in recent days the interest in buying plots of land for development has dropped to almost zero due to freezing business processes. Who has managed to replenish their land bank when the demand recovers and what will happen to prices on the background of the pandemic - in the material on "DP".

Dp.ru reported to Becar Asset Management that in the first quarter of 2020 the transactions volume on land plots in St. Petersburg increased by 39% compared to the IV quarter of 2019. However, analytics and statistics do not keep up with the latest events. In the current situation the achieved result seems nonsense, but it still reflects the real situation and market readiness for development – the company notes.

The average cost of 1 m2 of land is now 30.2 thousand rubles, that is 9% higher than in the previous quarter. These figures also conflict with current trends.

"It can be better called the inertia of last year. Last year, we already saw a fall in demand, as well as transaction and price reduction due to changes in legislation. Then the developers perked up, started looking for new projects and initiating new deals. According to our analytics, in 2019 the transactions volume decreased compared to 2018, but we clearly saw that in 2020 developers are ready to increase the volume of land purchase transactions. This "tail" is the reason of the positive statistics in the first quarter of 2020. At the same time there was a collapse in March, so we will see its consequences in the second quarter. All deals will be frozen. We expect the return to the discussion of current deals closer to the end of 2020", - commented Olga Sharygina, Vice-President of Becar Asset Management.