The demand for housing in Uzbekistan decreased in June after rising for two consecutive months, according to the Centre for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR).
A total of 20,200 deals were made last month, which is a 6.4% drop, after 11% and 9% growth in April and May, respectively. Year-on-year, sales reduced by almost 14%.
The figures indicate a general cooling down on the country’s property market, the center said in its monthly report.
The largest fall in housing sales was seen in the Sirdaryo, Bukhara and Andijan regions, where prices decreased by 21%, 20% and 16%, respectively. In Tashkent, however, a positive trend was observed, with sales rising by almost 5%.
In the first half of the year, sales fell by 5.7%, with the largest drop in Navoi region (26.5%), city of Tashkent (13.8%) and Jizzakh region (10,6%).
The growth of existing home prices slowed down in June, with prices increasing by a narrow 0.3% from May, when growth made up 1.3%. Nonetheless, over the past 12 months, prices rose by almost 10%.
In Tashkent, prices decreased by 1.1% from $1,155 to $1,142 per square meter on average.
After slight recovery in May, rent prices in Tashkent dropped again to $8.3 per square meter (a 1.2% decrease compared to previous month).
In January-June, rent prices went down by 9.8%, and year-on-year decrease comprised 5.5%.
Earlier, in a 2023 housing market review, the Central bank said that surging housing prices caused a decrease in purchasing power, with a gap between the market and fundamental housing prices reaching 24%.
The apartments are mainly being bought not to satisfy the basic needs, but as an object of investments, the regulator said.
