The townhouse of businessman Dmitry Mazurov in the center of Moscow will be sold at auction for 920 million rubles. We are talking about an object in the Muraviev Chambers complex, built in 2002 near Ostozhenka. It was put up for auction as part of the bankruptcy of an entrepreneur – the procedure, initiated at the request of creditors, has been going on for the third year.
Dmitry Mazurov, the founder of the Antipinsky Oil Refinery and the New Stream Group, has been under arrest since 2019. He is accused of embezzling $30 million and embezzling more than 470 million rubles that belonged to the refinery. A criminal case was opened at the request of the head of Sberbank German Gref.
In 2015, the bank issued a $100 million loan to Mazurov for the construction of the Antipinsky Oil Refinery, of which Sberbank did not receive $30 million back. In total, the bank provided loans to the plant for almost $ 3 billion, for which Mazurov gave personal guarantees. In addition to Sberbank, among the creditors of the businessman are Promsvyazbank, VTB, Moscow Credit Bank and Absolut Bank.
The area of the four-story apartment is almost 500 square meters. There is a cellar, swimming pool, sauna, roof terrace and two parking spaces. Its initial cost, judging by the auction documentation, is 920 million rubles. Last spring it was estimated at a quarter cheaper, and by the end of the summer the price had almost halved to 450 million rubles. Approximately for the same price in December in the same residential complex on online portals an apartment with similar parameters was sold.
Is it difficult to find a buyer? Mikhail Payushin, managing partner of Freeviser, a real estate law firm, argues:
“As for the luxury real estate market, there is indeed a certain calm there now, and there are not so many deals with the premium segment, which are very expensive. Of course, 2023 is not yet an indicator, because only January has passed and part of February, and in principle, the market is less active during this period. Deals are being made, there will be more of them closer to the summer, but from the point of view of the premium class, it is really very difficult to sell now. This was at the end of 2022 as well. Investors turned their attention to overseas real estate and started buying there. Since the pandemic, for townhouses, for everything related to a detached house, even with a small area, demand began to prevail. A lot of investors paid attention to Sochi real estate.
If we take, for example, the period October-December, there were a very large number of transactions. It was seen as an alternative to vacations and overseas real estate. There, a lot of townhouses were bought, detached cottages of the premium class. And prices have gone up. But closer to summer, of course, the market will revive, deals will appear, not in such a large number in luxury real estate, there will still be a recession. There are not many investors who are able to buy such a segment of real estate and are ready to buy the corresponding property. Investors are a little afraid to invest money now in general, in principle, in anything.
According to other market experts, as RBC writes, those who could afford such a purchase now prefer to rent apartments in Dubai or are looking for discounted properties in order to make money on their sale in a few years. Realtor Alexander Kharybin comments:
“Now it is rather difficult to evaluate such real estate, because some people left, some people were left with money, they are not interested in buying such apartments at the present time. The only one who can buy this object is either a neighbor or a person who lives in this area, has this money, for some reason he needs this particular house, this area, and he will not find anything better. There are very few such people now. We had a case during the pandemic, when the demand for everything also fell, at first they rented out, then they decided to sell the penthouse at about the same price on the Arbat, quite large.
As a result, it turned out to be sold to the owner on her own to the tenant of this house, because neither investors nor people with money who remained in Russia and can afford it, such real estate is now practically not attractive. If they are buying something, they are more likely to buy something in more modern complexes that are already built to new standards and of better quality.
Here the amount is quite large, so in Dubai you can easily buy one or more apartments for rent or in terms of growth. But trees don’t grow to the sky, real estate in Dubai, real estate in Turkey is already quite expensive, and, most likely, if someone buys abroad, it’s quite a lot of money. Such real estate is needed either for one’s own residence, or to park money in some way, it is unlikely that they will take anything from an investment point of view. But, indeed, demand from wealthy Russians has shifted there.”
The auction for Mazurov’s apartment will take place in early April. Those who want to take part in it must, by the end of March, make a deposit of 5% of the initial cost of the lot – that is, 46 million rubles.
