The assessment of house construction situation and investments in housing development in the regions of Volga Federal District

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the assessment of socioeconomic and house construction situation, as well as investments of local authorities and household sector in the development of housing facilities and infrastructure in Volga Federal District. The situation is described on the example of three regions different in the level of socioeconomic development – the Republic of Tatarstan, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Kirov Oblast. Analysis is conducted on such parameters as housing quantity, possibility of residential mortgage, strategies for improvement housing conditions, and planned investment volume in housing on the part of population, etc. The research is based on the analysis of the official statistical data on socioeconomic situation, as well as housing and utilities policy in the regions of Volga Federal District; survey that involved population of three cities – Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Kirov (total of 1560 respondents); and expert interview with 25 realtors from the indicated cities. The acquired results allow determining three clusters of the regions in accordance with socioeconomic indexes and characteristics of housing policy: regions-leaders, regions-drivers", and regions-anchors. A more detailed comparative characteristics of the official statistics in three regions – the Republic of Tatarstan, Nizhny Novgorod and Kirov regions, confirmed the results of clusterization. The population polling of the cities of Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Kirov complemented the picture with specific details on citizens’ perception of their living conditions and readiness to improve them. Interview with the realtors revealed the typical trends in development of house construction and residential property market in the aforementioned cities.