Head of RD Group’s Representative Office in Russia Roman Tkachenko provided commentary for the special yearend issue of CRE, the leading publication focused on the Russian commercial real estate market. Mr. Tkachenko commented on a topic of great relevance for developers: the key trends in 2013 on the bank financing market and the outlook for 2014.
According to CRE, 2013 saw a number of positive trends in the bank financing market. Loan conditions were simplified and requirements for borrowers were relaxed. At the same time banks continue to be largely focused on financing residential and retail projects.
QUOTES
According to experts, 2013 was a rather successful year for developers searching for bank financing. The trend is toward less stringent requirements for borrowers.
Roman Tkachenko, Head of the Representative Office of RD Group in Russia, believes that banks which fund construction projects indirectly benefited from the Moscow authorities’ decision to tear up investment agreements with many developers: only highly professional companies with good credit histories remain on the real estate market. Thus in 2014 the policy of differentiation of financing volumes and conditions for developers will continue.
“I think that with financing of the construction market, we are going to see a gradual reduction in the share of the developer’s own funds in projects. If today banks provide about 50-70% of a project’s cost, then in the future this share is going to increase. And this trend is more important for the real estate market than some minor decrease in banks’ interest rates,” Roman Tkachenko believes.