ARMENIAN REAL ESTATE MARKET AWAITING "BETTER TIMES"

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 14, 2010 – 14:16 AMT 09:16 GMT

President of Akcern real estate corporation Hakob Baghdasaryan said
that currently Armenia’s real estate market is in wait state and
there are not apparent signs of activity.

"In my opinion, people need some six months to conceive that the crisis
has been overcome," Baghdasaryan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to him, a reduction in real estate deals was observed in
his company over past three months.

Meanwhile, the official statistics indicates the contrary. According
to the RA State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre, the real estate
market has revived since the beginning of the year – 13.4 thousand
transactions were made in February 2010 which is 30.4% and 65% higher
as compared with the same period of 2009 and January 2010 respectively.

Mr. Baghdasaryan noted that first of all the Armenian real estate
market is waiting for the end of crisis in the U.S. and Russia,
since remittances received from these countries have a significant
impact on demand.

According to the RA Central Bank, funds at the amount of $158.2 mln
were received by physical persons in Armenia through the banking
system in January-February 2010 which is 6.6% lower as compared with
the same period of 2009.

Mr. Baghdasaryan added that foreign citizens’ demand for apartments
has not increased either, except for Iranian citizens, who demonstrate
activity in the market.

According to data of the State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre,
the prices for real estate have not changed, irrespective of the
increase in transactions number. In February 2010, the prices for
dwelling increased by 0.2% per sq.m in Yerevan.

The President of Akcern believes that the real estate prices have
not allowed cutting a range of programs initiated by the Armenian
government in 2009-2010 that are related to providing guarantees to
construction companies and mortgage market.

Despite his doubts concerning the crisis overcoming in Armenia,
he said that the corporation has positive expectations for 2010,
but only by the end of the year. At the same time, the company is not
going to intensify activity in the construction industry, waiting for
"better times."