Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday that the price for comfortable, quality housing in the regions should not exceed 30,000 rubles ($950) per square meter and that at least 40 percent of the population should be able to afford apartments.

“I think that the regions need to more actively take part in the development of low-rise construction and use other methods for lowering the price and increasing the comfort of housing,” Putin said.

The cost of production for economy class apartments is about 23,000 to 24,000 rubles per square kilometer without heating, plumbing and electricity, and about 40,000 to 42,000 rubles with the amenities, First Deputy Mayor Yury Roslyak told Vedomosti.

If the city helps developers hook up to municipal infrastructure they could realistically sell housing for 30,000 rubles — even in Moscow. But such prices would only be available through social housing projects and not commercial developments.

According to Regional Development Ministry data, the average price for a square meter of housing in Russia is 26,500 rubles. The average price in Moscow is 73,800 rubles, 44,300 rubles in St. Petersburg, 44,300 rubles in the Moscow region, and 42,950 rubles in Krasnodar region.

City Hall forecast on Friday that Moscow residential development would decline about 66 percent in 2010 to 1 million square meters.

City authorities will limit commercial construction and boost state-backed projects because of a shortage of land for development, a source in the Moscow city council told Interfax.

A total of 1 million square meters of residential properties will be built in 2010, of which 730,000 square meters will be used for social housing projects.

In 2009, a total of 3 million square meters of residential housing will be built in Moscow, with only 1 million square meters being used by the city.

(Vedomosti, MT)