In Russian million-plus cities, apartment rents fell for the first time since 2020

The decline in prices and the rise in discounts were linked by landlords to increased supply on the market. Last month, 16.4% more apartments were rented out in million-plus cities than a year earlier, said Yandex Rent head Andrey Zayko.

According to CIAN, in September the volume of housing offered for rent rose by 27% year on year and reached 56.4 thousand properties. CIAN lead analyst Elena Bobrovskaya explained this by the entry onto the market of “investment” apartments bought on the primary market, including in 2020–2024 amid mass subsidized mortgages, in order to rent them out or resell them.

Zayko added that because of limited demand and expensive mortgages, not all owners were able to sell such housing profitably, so some of the properties moved into rental. CIAN notes that the active growth in the number of such apartments has continued since 2025: in September of that year, their number in million-plus cities doubled year on year.

For January–August 2026, the average discount for tenants in million-plus cities increased from 9% to 10.6%, Yandex Rent calculated. In Moscow, 28.1% of owners offered a discount on the final amount, in St. Petersburg — 31.3%, in Yekaterinburg — 37.7%; the largest average discount was in Kazan — 12.9%, followed by Perm — 12.2%.

By the end of the year, Bobrovskaya expects further declines in long-term rental prices of 5–6%, and NF Group expects 10–15%. Earlier, the authorities tightened the terms of the subsidized family mortgage, which provides about half of all home purchase loans.

Sources

• Article: ru.themoscowtimes.com