How LSR Group conquered the real estate market in St. Petersburg and beyond
The St. Petersburg real estate market last year, on the one hand, sank, which resulted in poor sales. On the other hand, according to Smolny, almost a record number of square meters have been commissioned. Let’s consider a controversial year for LSR, which became one of the leaders in the regional market, mastering it by 16%.
LSR Group, together with Etalon and Setl Group, is last year’s champion in St. Petersburg in terms of residential real estate construction. It is curious that LSR retains the Leningrad flair – the name is hereditary from OAO LenStroyRekonstruktsiya – and this is how the abbreviation arose. It was this company that at the very beginning of the 1990s was engaged in the profile – the reconstruction of the center of Leningrad / St. Petersburg and even renovation, although at that time no one really knew this term. Last year it also celebrated its 20th anniversary under the LSR brand. In general, the company, founded by businessman Andrei Molchanov (at one time he will be a senator of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation), was already born in 1993. Here, in general, a serious anniversary is planned already this year.
to current numbers. According to Delovoy Peterburg, last year LSR Group mastered 16% of the regional residential construction real estate market, revenue amounted to 37 billion rubles without a hundred thousand, construction volume – 232,117 thousand square meters. The figures are quite correct, as explained by sources in the company. Perhaps the most important thing for consumers, but the average for the hospital – the price of a “square” in a residential building from LSR – 193.3 thousand rubles. It is clear that the group operates in all segments of the real estate market – from luxury to studios. Specific prices are broken down, of course, on her website. We note a couple of trends. It has been so since the time of St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev, a builder by profession, that in a large city construction company, a heavyweight from the industry should be the locomotive for various kinds of solving problems. It seemed that the former vice-governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Vakhmistrov (in construction since 1975, and in power since 1994) became such at one time. He left LSR’s most senior directorship in 2017 and has done a lot to increase the company’s punching power. Not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Moscow, the Moscow region and Yekaterinburg (including the Sverdlovsk region). And, perhaps, the main success for the company came 10 years later – then LSR Group took fourth place in the commissioning of housing throughout Russia, however, these figures are more correct for the capital than the capital of the north. And for the people of St. Petersburg, Vakhmistrov, who, having retained assets in the LSR, began to advise the bank “St. Petersburg”, was also remembered by the so-called “elites”. These are houses in the historical center that violate the usual panorama of St. Petersburg, protected by UNESCO. First of all, elite housing of forbidden height on Dobrolyubov Avenue, on Shpalernaya Embankment, on Suvorovsky Prospekt. Species places. In 2014, an epic confrontation broke out between LSR Group and city defenders. LSR-Stroy, which is part of LSR Group, has received permission from the State Administrative and Technical Inspectorate (GATI) to install a construction fence around the perimeter of the blockade substation on the Fontanka River embankment. This is an important monument for any Leningrader, and the blockade and everything connected with it in the city is a sacred thing. The scandal turned out to be colossal, but it is worth noting that the management of the construction holding did not give in, proving that “the city must develop.” Substation No. 11 was defended by the concerned public, it is functioning, and excursions are conducted on it. Here, the failure of the LSR PR service is obvious – another “elite”, but on the Fontanka, it was possible to build it and save the substation as a museum, and also present it beautifully. Didn’t guess.
Not everything is so “rosy” for 2023, not only for LSR Group – RBC sources claim that this year the construction of residential housing in St. Petersburg will almost halve: “According to the profile portal bnMAP.pro, commissioning of a record amount of real estate for St. Petersburg (3.7 million sq. m, or 272 buildings). The planned indicator of the national project “Housing and Urban Environment” in St. Petersburg (3.42 million sq. m) was achieved”; “In 2023 and 2024, the commissioning will decrease, according to preliminary estimates, to 3.1 and 2.2 million square meters. m respectively. This is due to the reduction of projects that started in 2020-2021,” expects Dombook managing partner, chairman of the board of directors of BEST-Novostroy, Irina Dobrokhotova.
In LSR, apparently, they understand everything, but there is a mood at least not to fall too much. The source of the Nasha Versiya correspondent says: “There is a flexible policy on how to work in the current conditions – both work with banks and with people. All this is spoken at internal seminars. Yes, the sales of apartments decreased by almost 2%, it is clear why. However, the average price of real estate sold was 169 thousand rubles. per sq. m. (there are discrepancies with the data of “Business Petersburg” given above). The calculation of aggregate returns shows positive all the time, as does operating income, which is up almost 50% year-over-year.”
However, the company will release all the exact data, most likely, only by March 1. Good figures, according to experts, are rather a “noble burp” of past years, when the population actively invested in real estate of various categories.
