Residents of Ekaterinburg are opting for parking spaces as an alternative to apartments, making an investment in these spaces.

In a surprising turn of events, the housing market in several Russian cities has experienced a significant downturn, with sales plummeting by as much as half. However, the parking space market has shown resilience, with sales increasing almost double in some cities.

In Samara, for instance, the housing market took a hit, crashing by 46.3%, but the demand for parking spaces surged, increasing by nearly 98.7%. This trend was not isolated to Samara, as positive sales dynamics for parking spaces were also observed in million-plus cities like Perm (+18.5%), Voronezh (+31.9%), and even Chelyabinsk, where the cost of parking spaces increased by 20,000 rubles over the year, from 1.76 to 1.78 million.

The city of Chelyabinsk, however, bucked the trend of increasing costs, with the price of parking spaces remaining relatively stable, with a change not exceeding 1%. In stark contrast, Yekaterinburg saw a significant increase in the cost of parking spaces, with a 9% rise, from 1.21 to 1.32 million rubles.

The exception to the overall housing market slump was Yekaterinburg, where the number of housing transactions decreased by 37.5%, while parking space sales increased by almost 5%. This could be attributed to the upcoming introduction of a "subscription" for paid parking in Yekaterinburg, managed by the local city administration in cooperation with the company "City Parking."

Interestingly, the first half of 2025 saw a 20% decrease in the sale of parking spaces in under-construction buildings in the 17 largest cities in Russia, with only 21,500 parking spaces being sold. Despite this, the demand for parking spaces in these cities remains strong.

While apartment sales dropped significantly more, with an average decrease of 33% in the same period, the parking space market continues to thrive, offering a glimpse of hope in an otherwise challenging real estate landscape.

Residents of Ekaterinburg are opting for parking spaces as an alternative to apartments, making an investment in these spaces.