Buyer's portrait: Who can afford buying apartment in 2022

Author

Lesia Solovchuk

In 2022, more than 55% of housing buyers on the primary market will buy apartments for cash—with their own savings or through selling their previous housing and purchasing a new one with a surcharge that will not exceed 30-40% of the cost of a new home.

At the same time, about 35% of investors plan to use installment programs from developers, 10% of buyers are ready to purchase an apartment using mortgage programs.

Who buys housing on the primary market

As Mykhailo Pidvysotskyi, the Managing Partner of the group of companies Concept Group, states in a comment to , 60% of potential buyers already have their own housing, but will try to improve their living conditions looking for technological, thought out to the smallest detail, projects with new household comfort and organically combined with the natural environment.

The vast majority of primary housing buyers in 2022— this is 80-85%—will be in the 25-45 age bracket. About 10-15% is an audience aged 45 to 60 years, Pidvysotskyi stresses.

He believes that more than 40% of buyers in 2022 will be related to the IT industry. At the same time, 30% of investors are mainly middle and senior managers in the retail and logistics sectors. About 20% of buyers will belong to creative professions: designers, creative directors, marketers, etc.

More than 10% of buyers are expats (foreign citizens working in Ukraine and Ukrainian citizens working abroad for a long time), as well as older people with stable lives, habits, and preferences.

"The IT industry representatives tend to perceive life without complications, but with a thorough study of the project features and the developer brand. These buyers are guided by the need to live in a technological environment where there is everything to live and work. However, they prefer to find a secluded space near a big city. Because of the pandemic, most of the IT specialists work at home, so they need additional space to create a home office, or they will focus on availability of a coworking space near their home," the expert believes.

Pidvysotskyi notes that for middle and senior executives in major companies, mainly in the retail and logistics sectors, it is often extremely important to have a secluded, calm life close to nature in order to find a source of replenishment of vitality because of their hectic working schedule.

For the "creative class" representatives, in his opinion, the importance will lie in the very concept of the future project, the ideology of the housing complex, and additional competitive advantages, for example, the ability to work effectively in the outsourcing format or without excessive need to stay in the office.

The "creative" buyers do not distinguish between life and work. These are people who are determined to get positive emotions from life they see their own and family happiness in. At the same time, "people with successful experience" will look for safety, comfort, nature, and life without urban chaos when buying housing. The expats need modern, technological, and safe housing for their families," Pidvysotskyi says.

The expert believes that regardless of the level of the fortune and the principles of choosing housing, all groups of buyers will have several common features in 2022:

the need to live close to nature with elements of a secluded life, but not far from a big city,
the desire to live in modern houses built using the latest technologies and modern eco-materials (wood and stone),
to live among their own kind.

New type of housing to meet new demands from buyers

"In 2022, it will be important for the buyer not only the improved residential complex area, but the creation of integral ecosystems that combine the natural environment, space, comfort, infrastructural self-sufficiency, and innovation. This applies to both the facilities of social services, and the territory for leisure, sports, and recreation," the specialist says.

Taking into account the buyer’s portrait, according to the expert, the trends of the primary market in 2022 will also change. In particular, at the demands of young people, the format of "new cities" that will be built "from scratch" may appear.

"Such projects should be considered new 'satellite cities', the construction of which will be organically interwoven into the existing environment. These cities are the "other side" of the usual, entrenched perceptions of living in your own home," the head of Concept Group stresses.

The expert notes that not only meeting the needs of different audiences (living in modern houses close to the "wild" nature, creating new conditions that would significantly expand human capabilities in work, rest, and self-development), but also prevention of global warming and future shortages of water and energy resources are inherent in the ideology of creating "new cities".

"New cities are already being created in the United States, and it is planned to build a new capital of Egypt from scratch near Cairo. In London, Paris, and Amsterdam, whole new districts are planned. These districts can subsequently take over the functions of the capitals' life centers. The role of green spaces in cities is being rethought: in Amsterdam, it is already planned to replace asphalt and paving stones with grass. Taking into account the tendencies of "new urbanism", it is expected that Ukrainian developers will embody the concept of harmony of life in the city and close to "wild nature". And purchasing housing in "new cities" may become the highest priority for buyers in 2022," Pidvysotskyi sums up.

At the same time, the technological effectiveness of such projects will also become important—compliance with the most modern trends in construction using innovative technologies that simplify life, as well as the availability of a natural "pristine" environment.