According to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee, housing commissioned in Azerbaijan increased by 6.3 percent in March compared to February, and reduced by 2.03 times compared to March 2011.
About 83,900 square meters of housing were commissioned in March compared to 78,900 square meters in February, 168,200 square meters in January 2012, 342,500 square meters in December (the best index last year) and 170,400 square meters in March 2011.
In January-March 2012 commissioned housing totaled 331,000 square meters compared to 319,800 square meters a year earlier. The growth of these volumes is still 3.5 percent.
Primary residential market
New buildings rose in price in Baku in March. According to the "Property Market Participants" public organization, cheap apartment mainly rose in price in March and prices vary between 500-700 manat per square meter.
In general, March can be estimated as a transition for the primary housing market. This also influenced the price. Besides the influence of a seasonal factor, the market intensified also due to the mortgage and growth of construction companies' loan portfolio.
The most active districts are Yasamal, Khatai and Nasimi districts, which accounted for 3/2 the total portfolio of the primary housing market as in previous months.
Source: Property Market Participants" public organization
Prices in March increased by 0.6 percent in February - from 815.9 manat per square meter to 820.8 manat. The prices reduced by 0.5 percent compared to the previous quarter and by 2.4 percent over the same period in 2011. The prices increased by 31.3 percent by the pre-crisis period (September 2008) and by early 2012 - by 3.2 percent.
The exposition term on the primary housing market is still high, as prices and supply do not meet the actual demand.
Secondary market
The average price on the secondary housing market in Baku in March 2012 increased by 2.7 percent and amounted to $976 per square meter compared to February.
In March, the volume of supply on the secondary housing market increased by 1.2 percent compared to February. In March, the supply on the market increased by 1.2 per cent and hit 7,600 apartments.
Source: Property Market Participants" public organization
The share of Yasamal, Nasimi, Narimanov and Khatai districts in the portfolio of supply on the market amounted to 78.7 percent. The formation of the portfolio due to these four districts for a long period is connected with new buildings built in these districts on the market.
The research shows that the portfolio is mainly formed due to these four districts on the primary market.
The share of secondary housing on the market at a price lower than the average, amounted to 54.2 percent. The average room rate in the housing proposed on the secondary market in March was 2.79, the average price on each room - $44,210, apartments - $111,104.
Building materials
According to the "Property Market Participants" pubic organization, the building materials market increased by 1.1 percent in Baku in March. The prices on building materials increased by 1.9 percent compared to the same period of last year and by 0.1 percent by early 2012.
The market share of prices on local building materials exceeded the share of imported materials by 1.12 percent and amounted to 52.9 percent.
In March, the monitoring was conducted on 38 items and 88 varieties of building materials. According to its results, road metal increased by 33.3 percent, run-of-quarry stone - 17.4 percent, mortar sand - 12.8 percent, riprap - 25 percent, wood - 6.7 percent, laminate flooring - 4.1 percent , brick - 5.1 percent. The price on plywood reduced by 0.9 percent, galvanized sheets - 2.9 percent, iron sheets - 2.6 percent, channel - 1.1 percent in March.
In March, the average price on one hundred part of the land in Baku increased by 4.5 percent - from $14,234 to $14,875. The main reason for the increase in prices was the increase in demand for private homes and land with the documents due to the demolition of old housing in the capital
The prices increased in most districts in Baku in March. But the highest growth was observed in Garadagh district, which hit 6.4 percent. Binagadi and Garadag districts were relatively active in the land market. The most passive was Nasimi district.
The most expensive land plot in March was offered to the market in Nasimi district of Baku (near the tea factory) for $350,000 per one hundred square meters, the cheapest one - in the Absheron region (Pirekeshkul settlement) for $ 350 for a hundred part of the land.
About 79.6 percent of the total area of 761.6 hectares of land plots on the market in March falls to vacant areas. The remaining areas were residential areas and old residential areas. Despite the large number of proposed land plots, demolition work in the city center has increased demand by 4.5 percent.
Land exposition term on the market reduced by 1.5 percent compared to the previous month, but the degree of risk for this type of property continues declining. The number of the concluded deals increased during a month. The activity of this segment has changed in a positive way.
The market research shows that the land plots in the city center are limited. As a consequence, prices on the sites located in suburbs increase.
The recent demolition of private houses in the city center and increased demand for land plots with documents will promote the growth of prices.
The interest in this property is still low due to the fact that the land plots can not be taken as collateral in the mortgage process, the experts of the organization said. Meanwhile, the processes recently occurring in the land market, reduced the risks of transactions in this market segment.
Commercial market
The average cost of the property and the cost of rental housing used for commercial purposes increased by 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent on the market of non-residential facilities in Baku in March.
The average price per square meter of non-residential area hit $2,844 compared in Baku in March to $2,836 the previous month. According to the research, the prices decreased by 1.9 percent compared to the same period of 2011 and by 0.3 percent compared to the previous quarter.
The share of non-residential facilities offered to the market less than the average price ($2,844 per square meter) hit 51.7 per cent of the total portfolio of the market of non-residential areas. The supply in March decreased by 1.6 percent.
The prices on non-residential facilities increased by 1.7 percent in Garadagh district of Baku. The largest decline by 0.2 percent occurred in Nasimi district of Baku.The non-residential areas, primarily comprised of private buildings and apartments on the first and second floors of the buildings and apartments on the first floor of the secondary housing in March 2012, which purpose has been changed.
The increased prices in the market and the relative increase in the dynamics on this segment led to a decrease in the exposure period by 0.4 percent.