The economic crisis caused the greatest damage to Armenia’s land market and later to commercial property and housing stock, Hakob Baghdasaryan, director of the Aktsern Company told NEWS.am. He reported a fall in the real estate prices in Armenia this January-May. “This May some stability was registered. The state of the market can be outlined as ‘stably grave’,” Baghdasaryan said. He believes a sharp decrease in transfers to be one of the reasons for the price fall on Armenia’s real estate market.

“Armenia was among the few countries that received transfers twice much as the state budget. And the decrease in transfers affected the real estate market,” Baghdasaryan said. The price fall has exceeded 20% he said.

The government assistance program stabilized the market — the construction and banking sectors received support.

Baghdasaryan admits that banks hardly issue mortgage loans now. “Their policy should be understood. Hardly anyone can borrow a loan and pay interests regularly,” Baghdasaryan said. He pointed out that banks are trying to revise mortgage lending terms, which will enable to reduce interest rates and issue longer-term loans.

Gegham Gabrielyan, broker at the Altavip agency, told NEWS.am that the crisis “optimized” the prices on the real estate market. “The crisis made purchasers pay more attention to the quality of housing,” Gabrielyan said.