Astana, Kazakhstan, Oct. 16
By Daniar Mukhtarov - Trend:
Between 2012 and 2013, the living area per Kazakh citizen rose from 19.6 to 20.9 square meters, the Ranking.kz analytical service reported.
"In 2013, the total housing area in Kazakhstan amounted to 336.1 million square meters. The housing stock rose over the year to 32.7 million squares (nearly 11 percent)," the analysts said.
The analysts said the urban areas concentrate 62.5 percent of the country's housing stock. The total housing area per person rose from 18.3 to 20.9 square meters in five years (between 2009 and 2013).
"The average total area per person in the city is larger than in the countryside. In 2013, the housing rate in urban areas was 23.7 squares per person, and 17.4 squares in rural areas," the analysts said.
The UN's recommended standard for housing stands at 30 square meters per person.
The analysts said that Kazakhstan will be able to reach the UN standards by 2019 or 2020, if in the medium term the housing growth rate remains within 7 percent.
In the last 2 years, Kazakhstan reduced the damaged houses area to 750,000 square meters. In 2013, the proportion of damaged houses reached a minimum value - 0.67 percent of the total housing stock.
Some 85 percent of the damaged houses are in the urban areas. The positive growth in the housing construction should lead to a decrease in the emergency stock at the expense of demolition.
The residential investments in 2013 stood at 477.8 billion KZT (approx. $2 billion on Oct. 14), or 70.8 billion KZT more than the year before.
This is a 17.4 percent increase - the most significant in 5 years.
In Aug. 2014, the residential investment amounted to 57 billion tenges.
Some 383.8 billion tenges were invested just in 8 months of 2014.