The share of people in Russia who own their homes as opposite to renting remains very high. The majority of Russians live in apartments or units.

Home ownership in Russia

According to a recent poll, 85% of Russians own their homes.

• 54% of home owners live in apartments or flats in multi-unit buildings.
• 31% own a house, cottage, or a townhouse.

Among renters, the majority reside in multi-unit buildings where they either lease an entire apartment or a room in a flat (11% of respondents). This group includes people who live in dormitories.

Only 2% of people rent a house or cottage.

In larger cities such as Moscow or St. Petersburg, 77% of people own apartments and only 5% possess a house or a cottage. In villages, vice versa, 70% of respondents own houses.

The larger the city, the higher is the share of people who own units in multi-level buildings. The opposite trend holds true for smaller settlements: The smaller is the settlement, the higher is the share of people living in houses.

It should be noted that many Russians own small plots in the countryside where they traditionally used to plant vegetables and berries for their own consumption. Most such plots had a permit to erect a cottage, which was often constructed by the owner-builder. Such small houses were called “dacha“.

Nowadays such plots in the countryside often showcase quite opulent homes. The cost of these plots have risen sharply in recent times, while during the Soviet period both apartments and plots in the countryside were allocated for free in the order of a general queue, based on the time worked for the company and special entitlements such as more than 3 kids in the family, disability, etc.

Free home ownership

During the times of the Soviet Union and shortly thereafter, people were able to get an apartment (flat) for their residence and a small block of land for the purpose of the countryside entertainment. One family was entitled to both.

This practice still exists in Russia, only on a much smaller scale and often misused by the government officials to obtain apartments without paying for them. Some groups of people who are entitled by law to get a unit for free often have to wait for decades to no avail, while high-level bureaucrats are scoring the best locations and apartments in the city.

It is due to the fact that during the 70 years of the Soviet Union people were given homes for free that the level of home ownership in Russia remains very high.

It is still possible to get land for free in Russia. For instance, people are offered 1 Ha of land per family member in the Far East of Russia (Vladivostok area), under the condition the plot will be developed within a certain period of time.

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