Thread: TV News Report: Russian real estate goes from boom to bust

This aired tonight on the U.S. program World Focus

http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/02/1...-to-bust/4090/
(hopefully you can watch the video outside of USA)

February 17, 2009
Russian real estate goes from boom to bust
The broad economic crisis has turned boom times in Russia’s real estate industry to near bust.
Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Himmel travels first to Moscow and then to another city some 80 miles away, where the Russian dream was once alive and well.

I would be interested in hearing your comments about the report.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

(hopefully you can watch the video outside of USA)

I couldn't watch it

Originally Posted by rockzmom

...where the Russian dream was once alive and well.

triyng to translate it... something like "...где русская мечта однажды стала реальностью(ожила) и расцвела (забила ключом)" ? Somebody can help me?

Originally Posted by Shurick

стала реальностью(ожила) и расцвела (забила ключом)" ?

Да. Была жива и здорова. Цвела и пахла.

Those housing projects weren’t affordable then and are unaffordable now, so have nots don’t give a damn if that Roisman or whoever he is loses his millions, they’d sooner be glad if he will. There’s not much difference between living on 150$ per month and on 100$ those 150$ have shrank into now, the level in both cases is close to a despair line for the majority of people. I can’t imagine how they make ends meet. I remember you said the gas in your place is now 14 rubles a litre, half as much as two months ego and our gas prices have only been down from 23 to 20 rubles per litre during the same period. People no like bad medicine, they despise it. Will there be light at the end of the tunnel? I wish somebody told me it will (or there will, or there will be) Damn all that crisis, we shall overcome some day.

Originally Posted by Shurick

Originally Posted by rockzmom

(hopefully you can watch the video outside of USA)

I couldn't watch it

It is now up on YouTube! So, let's hope that you can watch it now!!!
[video:3c3rv60u]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUNQ3yoHcRw&feature=channel_page[/video:3c3rv60u]

AlexB, I read your comments and understand your feelings. I do have lots of questions; however, I would like for you to watch the video first if you would not mind???? Please remember, 1) I have very little knowledge of how things really work in Russia and 2) I don't know how accurate this news piece is, so that is why I posted this and would like to discuss. It was not to start a firestorm of anger.

And if it is not asking too much... this is another video from the series that aired.. It aired Feb 16th

There is another one that aired on the 18th, but it is not yet up on YouTube.

Your comments on this video would also be appreciated.

Stalin makes a comeback with Russia’s youth

Though he is vilified in the U.S. as one of the 20th century’s most brutal dictators, and despite the countless deaths his purges caused, Josef Stalin is once again being hailed in Russia. In fact, Stalin got high marks in the “Name of Russia” project, where people voted on the most notable personalities of Russian history.

Read what a Worldfocus contributing blogger had to say about the contest: Vote for most notable Russian is contested.

Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Himmel visited Moscow recently and reports on Stalin’s comeback.

[video:2v3efz1e]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DQek7rDL8k&feature=channel[/video:2v3efz1e]

Originally Posted by Shurick

Originally Posted by rockzmom

(hopefully you can watch the video outside of USA)

I couldn't watch it

Originally Posted by rockzmom

I could. Similar Western sites do not usually favor us with such kindness, though the interface of the player is stupid, it does not allow you to go a step back in order to replay a fragment you didn’t quite catch.

AlexB (or anyone else) here are my questions that I have and I know that they may seem a little childish to you but please remember, I have no background knowledge here.... I am starting at square one and would very much like to know the answers to these questions, so please be kind with your responses to me.

All of the news reports that I have posted so far were broadcasted on a local Public Broadcasting Services channel or PBS and here is a link to learn more about PBS (http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/aboutpbs_corp.html)

With regards to the first news piece (Russian Real Estate).

1. The community that they are/were building, does anyone have any idea what those houses were going for say in US dollars?
2. Who are/were the types of people purchasing these homes?
3. In the US, a bank does not normally have authority to "freeze" a company's assets unless there is a court order. For example there is a legal problem with the company. Is it normal or customary for banks in Russia to freeze a company's account or even an individual's account without provocation?
4. During the time that Russia had an economic boom during the higher oil prices, the news piece states that Russian leaders should have directed funds into creating jobs or another industry. What industry would be a good one for Russia to enter into? What should they have invested the surplus in?
5. How bias or unbiased do you believe this news piece was?

Thank you for helping me to understand.

the collapse in real estate is a world wide thing. Look at this report from Dubai.

http://smashingtelly.com/2009/02/15/bye-bye-dubai/

Originally Posted by sperk

the collapse in real estate is a world wide thing. Look at this report from Dubai.

http://smashingtelly.com/2009/02/15/bye-bye-dubai/

Sperk,

Thanks for posting that link. I remember clearly when they had started to build those palm islands. I could not believe the engineering creativity and minds that went into thinking up the idea of building complete communities out in the water out of nothing and doing it, in what I thought, was an artistic eye catching fashion. Something that would be marketable, Palm Trees, that you could see from the sky and have this instant status symbol of saying, "I live here, look online on Google Earth." I had not realized that these too had been hit by the collapse.

Of course my own neighborhood around me is in terrible shape as I believe I have mentioned previously on another thread. The house across the street from me finally, yesterday the bank put the for sale sign up after over a year of just sitting empty and it not selling even in auction. There are two others near me that are just vacant, also not moving even in auctions because they are in such disarray from being abandoned (black mold and all).

Yet, you can drive down the road a little ways and see multi-million dollar homes. It is such a juxtaposition of life styles in my area and very hard for the children to understand especially considering the life that they lead and their heritage on top of it (they have traveled to El Salvador many times and seen and understand what poor really means).

Not knowing the geographical area of Moscow at all, I have no clue as to how close this community that was being built is in relationship to more realistically priced communities or poorer communities. Would it be like where I live, where once you would come out of the gated area, you then drive down two or three streets and reality of life hits you or is it far enough away and you would be sheltered from people like me...the "have nots" or the people on the "wrong side of the tracks?"

Originally Posted by rockzmom

With regards to the first news piece (Russian Real Estate).

1. The community that they are/were building, does anyone have any idea what those houses were going for say in US dollars?
2. Who are/were the types of people purchasing these homes?
3. In the US, a bank does not normally have authority to "freeze" a company's assets unless there is a court order. For example there is a legal problem with the company. Is it normal or customary for banks in Russia to freeze a company's account or even an individual's account without provocation?
4. During the time that Russia had an economic boom during the higher oil prices, the news piece states that Russian leaders should have directed funds into creating jobs or another industry. What industry would be a good one for Russia to enter into? What should they have invested the surplus in?
5. How bias or unbiased do you believe this news piece was?

1. In my home town the price of a square meter of a living space in an apartment house being built these days is some 1000$. The math is simple: target space in meters multiplied by 1000 is a price of a flat. Move north to Moscow and the figures start sky-rocketing up to 27000 psm (heard just this minute on TV). So my suggestion is from the conservative 100000$ to way up high (mathematicians haven’t invented the numbers yet to represent the amount of money needed).
2. A good question as is often said. I ask it myself sometimes. Can an average American Joe buy a house worth a million dollars? I don’t think so, only not so average Joe can. So our unevarage Joes are high ranking officials, not so high but corrupt ones, successful so called businessmen, criminal world captains, famous actors, singers, artists and such, and rare honest people who were lucky enough to have had numerous unhealthy relatives leaving on a regular basis this world and their highly valued nowadays apartments to their heirs.
3. The bank was on the verge of collapse, so there was no money to be found. I think the reporter used improper terminology, the account was frozen figuratively.
4. The fundamental science should be brought back to its former glory, space technology and military aircraft building has always been our pride and, while there’s still something left of it, it must be used to build up some hi-tech industry muscles upon.
5. We have similar reports on our TV almost every day now, so what biased could he be about?

Originally Posted by alexB

5. We have similar reports on our TV almost every day now, so what biased could he be about?

AlexB, if you recall, I am of that age that I was taught everything about USSR life was doom and gloom (and the parts that I actually remember, which I embarrassingly admit are not much) are very much of oppression, suffering and never enough for anyone. So I was raised to think the worst of Russian life. A very hard way of life and one that I would not wish on my worst enemy.

So now, when I hear a news story I want to stop and question it, is what I am hearing slanted or is it actually the truth or maybe somewhere in between? This is why I figure, why not post the video and ask people who are actually living in this area. Maybe they will be kind enough to help me to learn about what it is really like in their part of the world - things I never learned in grade school and things I also want to learn about what is happening there right now, today.

Originally Posted by Lillian Smith

When you stop learning, stop listening, stop looking and asking questions, always new questions, then it is time to die.

alexB is right, an average person can't afford buying a house or even an apartment. You have such a ridiculous sum of money only if you are a (very) succesful businessperson, or indulge in some kind of criminal activity (including bribery and such), or a celebrity of some kind.
Or if you have something to sell (your old apartment in a good part of the city, for example), you can then add some money and buy a new one.

You absolutely CAN'T buy a new apartment/house by simply earning this money in an honest and ordinary way (being a teacher, a doctor, an office worker, etc.).

In my city one meter in a new appt costs about $800-900 (and it's not even a capital, in the capital everything costs more). An average salary in Ukraine is about $500-600 per months, with many people (especially in small towns) earning about $200-$350 per month. You can do the math.
And most people can't afford even an old (used) apartment. Because even a cr@ppy 1-room apartment in an old (40 years or more) house costs about $30000-50000. Basically an average person has to work all his/her life (or to kill and rob somebody) to buy this ugly one room apartment.

BTW, bank and credit systems are unreliable (like during this year crysis some banks increased the interest people had to pay for their loans, and many families had to give back their partially repaid cars and appartments, because the new interests were more than their family income).

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

BTW, bank and credit systems are unreliable (like during this year crysis some banks increased the interest people had to pay for their loans, and many families had to give back their partially repaid cars and appartments, because the new interests were more than their family income).

So a bank can just increase the interest rate whenever it wants to?

Originally Posted by sperk

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

So a bank can just increase the interest rate whenever it wants to?

Probably they can't, but they DID. A few of them.
The interest wasn't the main problem, though. In Ukraine most loans are given in dollar equivalent, and since dollar-to-grivna rate increased more than twice at the time, these people suddenly had to pay twice as much as they payed before that (even if the interest remained the same).

Originally Posted by rockzmom

AlexB, if you recall, I am of that age that I was taught everything about USSR life was doom and gloom (and the parts that I actually remember, which I embarrassingly admit are not much) are very much of oppression, suffering and never enough for anyone. So I was raised to think the worst of Russian life. A very hard way of life and one that I would not wish on my worst enemy.

Funny thing, but those were my childhood sentiments to Americans. I did not read papers then or watch TV-news, but somehow the notion of Americans and others in the West living in an unjust, cruel society stuck in my mind and I sincerely pitied them. Ours was a happy life, I don’t remember any gloom and doom and the only oppression I had was having to do my household chores and school homework. Understanding that it wasn’t all milk and honey came through the years but I can’t say life was bad then. For some it was but not for most.