Boarding Pass, May 2004

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early nineties, flocks of tourists, business-people and adventurers have descended upon Moscow to experience the excitement and, at times, the heartbreak of post-communist Russia. Many stayed on, watching the city's streets come alive with the emergence of new, more colorful shops, restaurants and the inexorable blitz of ever-increasing volumes of traffic.

Today, more than ten years after the collapse of the USSR, Russia's economy is experiencing solid growth as its political climate stabilizes. The changes that have taken place have brought about a steady influx of people along with significant investment into the country's capital city, causing the real estate market in Moscow Lo heat up.

As an example, throughout 2004, the housing sector in Moscow has shown no signs of slowing down. Walking through the city's center, one can see cranes everywhere, towering over centuries-old churches and Stalin-era skyscrapers.

Construction work continues late into the night, without breaks for holidays or even severe weather.

Despite such visible signs of growth and expansion, nevertheless, housing costs continue to rise. According to The Moscow Times, residential real estate costs grew by some 45 percent last year, and this trend is projected to continue during 2004 and beyond.

This, of course, is tremendous news for landlords and realtors, but not so encouraging for the homebuyer. How can anyone find an affordable home in Moscow in this type of environment? The first thing one must do before starting a search for a home is to get to know the city and its various and highly disparate neighborhoods.

Moscow, like many European cities, has a circular design. The Kremlin stands at the center point of the city. It is then encircled by the Boulevard Ring or Bulvarnoye Koltso, which, in turn, is located inside the next outer ring, the Garden Ring, or the Sadovoye Koltso.

The most sought-after residential neighborhoods are located inside the Garden Ring. These include the Patriarshy Prudy, Chistye Prudy, Tverskaya, and Arbat-Kropotkinskaya areas. Besides being a mouthful to pronounce, each of these neighborhoods plays a special role in the history and life of Moscow.

The Patriarshy Prudy neighborhood, unofficially named after its pond, is a great place to jog. The pond is surrounded by greenery in the summer and makes for a lively ice-skating rink in the winter. This area is favored by many of Moscow's expatriates, since it offers a convenient commute to the Anglo-American school, located not far off on the Leningrad Highway. You can browse the many Patriarshy area shops in search of unique trifles and knick-knaks. If you venture out on a lazy Sunday morning, partaking of superb coffee and pastries at Dona Klara Cafe on Malaya Bronnaya Street is a great way to start the day. However, if you arrive before eleven, you'll more than likely find those places being frequented by expatriates rather than Russians, who generally wake up later on weekends.

Another area named after its body of water is Chistye Prudy located east of the Kremlin. Not as prestigious as the Patriarshy District, it, nevertheless, attracts those who truly love the feel of historic Moscow — its old, quaint buildings and its onion-domed churches. Moscow's artsy crowd come to Chistye Prudy to visit Rolan and the near-by 35 Millimeter movie theaters — the city's hippiest.

A fashionable clothing store, Marki, meaning labels, is located in the Chistye Prudy neighborhood. You can buy the works of top Russian designers there, with prices ranging from $20 for hair-clips to $6,000 for designer dresses. You can pass the warm summer months there by strolling near the pond. This is a well-loved summertime activity of French expatriates, who seem to favor the Chistye Prudy area.

If, instead of walks by the water and nights at the movies, you prefer to be in the thick of things, the Tverskaya neighborhood is the perfect choice. It's set ablaze with trendy shops, bustling nightclubs and many eateries. Tverskaya is favored, for the most part, by adventurous newcomers and party-loving singles.

Those who would like to be away from the buzz of Tverskaya, but still within walking distance of the Kremlin, choose the Arbat-Kropotkinskaya area - arguably the most expensive neighborhood in Moscow. Dubbed the Golden Mile, this area houses architectural gems of Tsarist Russia and newly-built luxury buildings, complete with swimming pools and underground parking garages.

Many bankers and employees of oil companies live on the Golden Mile, lavishing in the area's up-scale reputation. One of Moscow's most exclusive restaurants, Vanil, is found here, just minutes away from the Kropotkinskaya Metro Station.

The restaurant's patrons can enjoy the view of the Christ the Savior Cathedral and passersby can ogle the latest makes of expensive automobiles parked along the street. The theaters, galleries, diplomatic residences, and churches found in the areas inside the Boulevard Ring make for gracious neighbors. However, if you are looking for a home within the limitations of a tight budget, you should consider living in less-cen-trally located housing.

The Garden Ring is encircled by the newly opened Third Ring, or the Tretye Koltso. Much of Moscow's more affordable apartment complexes extend from the Third Ring to the Outer Ring Highway, called the MKAD, and beyond.

The city limits have traditionally been marked by the Outer Ring, but urban sprawl has caused Moscow's newest, and, generally, less expensive buildings to spring up beyond the Outer Ring. Rental prices are more affordable there, but living beyond the Outer Ring is only for the stoutest hearts, those not easily bothered by dreary, characterless surroundings and long commutes, smothered by traffic.

Okay, you've now gotten a brief overview of the city and you understand what various lifestyle settings it offers. So, what's next? The next step is to see how Moscow's neighborhoods are inter-connected. Few people realize ahead of time just how profoundly city traffic can affect their quality of life. While Muscovites go about their daily lives, absorbing the city's changes, which come about at a dizzying rate, it seems that the stultifying traffic jams are the only constant. It is wise to plan your life in Moscow in such a way that your daily commute does not absorb most of your time. To do this, you will need to clearly understand how the city's main arteries have been laid out.

Arming yourself with a map and a good attitude may not be enough to endure the exigencies of this metropolis. The good news is that some real estate companies, like Evans Realty, offer instructive tours of Moscow's neighborhoods. Such tours are complementary, as are all of Evans' property services, unless, that is, you decide to rent or buy an apartment you see through that agency. In the event that the real estate agency does find your next home for you, the standard realtor's fee in Moscow is equal to one month's rent.

Looking for an apartment without the help of a professional is not advisable for people unfamiliar with Moscow and its difficult-to understand legalities and traditions. However, if you are really set on avoiding the realtor's fee, looking online is a good way to start your search. For example, www.expat.ru is an online service for expatriates living in Moscow. You can register at this Website for free and browse through countless apartment and roommate listings.

Another place to look is www.cian.ru. This site lists available apartments by price and describes them in detail, indicating the number of rooms and the Metro stops, nearest to where the apartments are located.

Even with a Metro map in hand, understanding apartment listings may be difficult. A «Western-renovated apartment in a Ministerial building» does not mean much to most people, unfamiliar with the special lingo of Moscow's residential real estate market. There are several key terms everyone looking for a home in Moscow should learn.

Apartments in Moscow are sometimes described as «needing renovation», «Russian-renovated», «Western-renovated», or «Semi-Western-renovated». This stems from the great disparity in the quality and interior design choices of residential properties that exist in all of Moscow's neighborhoods.

Apartments that need renovation are often priced at a third of the price of renovated ones. However, living with a rain-spat tered ceiling, faded wallpaper on the walls, and leaky plumbing is an adventure not everyone can deal with. Some real estate companies offer to renovate such apartments and tailor them to your taste in a matter of months. This service is available even for clients only looking to rent, but it can save you money, if you plan to rent for a long term.

Many Russians traditionally prefer colorful surroundings to Western simplicity when it comes to decorating their homes. Therefore, a Russian-renovated apartment normally refers to a home replete with bright, Oriental carpets, elaborate wallpaper designs, and dark, wooden accent pieces. Such apartments are liklely to have been remodeled ten or more years ago.

More recently, updated accommodations can be found in Western-renovated apartments. While «Western renovation» is a broadly used term, it normally implies that an apartment has been recently remodeled and modern bathroom and kitchen appliances have been installed. However, the term does not speak to the decor, which may range from tasteful and understated to over-the-top kitsch.

Semi-Western renovation only differs from a Western one in that the remodeling work was scaled down. These types of apartments may have been recently updated only by having their kitchens redone or by having the wallpaper changed.

Deciphering interior design and decorating terms is only half the battle of understanding apartment listings in Moscow. You will have to become somewhat of a history buff, to be able to visualize the types of buildings that house Moscow's apartments.

Moscow's residential properties range from flats in 19th century buildings that housed Tsarist institutions and members of the aristocracy to apartments in Soviet- and Post-Soviet era structures that differ widely in both type and quality.

The majority of Tsarist-era buildings are found in the city center. Many are small mansions, which remind us of the Muscovites of old. Can't you just picture ladies in floor-length skirts and gentlemen, with hats and canes, ascending the elaborate entranceways as they return home from their leisurely afternoon strolls? Today, these mansions have one or two apartments on each floor. While such accommodations don't have elevators, they offer an escape from Moscow's towering high-rises, and they remind you of the city's aristocratic past.

Larger architectural treasures, built in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, combine a taste of history with a sense of luxury. Apartments located in these pre-revolutionary buildings feature high ceilings with intricate, original moldings, spacious rooms, large window, and, sometimes, fireplaces. Their beautiful facades offer the utmost in style and prestige and are priced accordingly.

After the communist revolution of 1917, a bloody civil war ensued. There was no new construction in Moscow for the next decade. The buildings erected in the thirties, forties and fifties reflect Joseph Stalin's totalitarian rule. These imposing buildings, found along Moscow's main avenues, such as Tverskaya and Kutuzovsky Prospect, as well as the Moscow River embankments, provide solid and spacious homes.

The Seven Sisters, or the city's seven Stalin-era skyscrapers, are also grandiose examples of architecture of the time. Only three of these skyscrapers, however, all of which boast breathtaking views, large balconies, and magnificent entrances, are residential.

After Stalin's death, residential construction in Moscow focused on quantity at the expense of design and construction quality. Driven by the goal of mitigating the housing shortage, without any attempt at impressing or intimidating the West, housing of the 1960s and 1970s is, to say the least, unremarkable. These six- to eight-story-high concrete buildings have brick facades and smaller apartments that provide basic, but reasonable accommodations.

The yellow-brick high rises, also built in the seventies and eighties, are so-called Ministerial buildings, erected to house high-level Communist Party and state officials. One can experience the life of a Communist Party boss by renting one of the spacious apartments, located in the Ministerial buildings.

Life in Moscow has changed dramatically since the days of Communist rule. Among other changes, banks and casinos have sprung up all over the city, and in 2003, Forbes Magazine ranked Russia as having the third highest number of billionaires in the world.

Built to address the demands of Russia's new elite, modern residential complexes represent the most luxurious accommodations found in Moscow today. These high-security facilities often have self-contained mechanical systems, spas, gyms, and other modern amenities far removed from former times.

An apartment search in Moscow is inadvertently intertwined with the city's turbulent history and the exciting changes it is undergoing today. With a bit of preparation, however, you should have no trouble finding your perfect home, be it historic or ultramodern. Good luck and see you around Moscow!

Size, sq. m. Number of bedrooms Price, low, USD Price, high, USD

35-50 studio $800 - 1.500

50-80 1 bedroom $1.000 - 3.000

80-100 2 bedroom $2.500 - 5.000

120-150 2 bedroom $4.500 - 7.000

150-180 3 bedrooms $5.000 - 9.000

180-220 4 bedrooms $8.000 - 12.000

250 and up 4 and more bedrooms $10.000 - 15,000 and up

* Renovated apartments in the center of Moscow, located inside the Garden Ring, do not vary in price according to the neighborhood where they are located. Instead, prices vary by how large the apartment is.

We would like to extend our gratitude to Evans Property Services (www.evans.ru) for providing valuable information and expertise concerning Moscow's real estate market. Please feel free to contact Evans Property Services directly at +7-495-232-6703 or +7-495-232-6704 or info@evans.ru for an introductory tour of Moscow's neighborhoods, free of charge.