The cost of renting out-of-town cottages in popular areas surrounding the city has grown by 50 to 100 percent this year, according to a report published on Fontanka.ru. Demand for countryside real estate grows by 30 percent to 40 percent every year, even as the quality of the rented houses rarely improves, the report said.
The price of renting a dacha depends on the kind of house, Natalya Khmelnitskaya, director of the large land plots department at the Real Estate Development and Research Agency, told the news agency.
“This year, regular dachas can be rented for 25,000 rubles [$1,050] a month. Better quality houses located outside villages are priced at between 25,000 rubles to 70,000 rubles [$2,950] a month. The most expensive kind are European-standard dachas built no earlier than 2000, which cost from 80,000 rubles to 220,000 rubles [$9,300] a month,” Khmelnitskaya said.
The most popular dachas are those in the middle price category. Usually tenants begin to look for their summer residences as early as January, and all the best options have already been let in advance by March or April. In May, any remaining dachas already cost far more.
The most popular summer destinations outside St. Petersburg are located in the northern Kurortny districts — the villages of Olgino, Lisy Nos and Solnechnoye, and the towns of Sestroretsk, Repino and Zelenogorsk — and in the Vyborg district.
Yelena Isayenko, director of the residential accommodation department at Becar real estate agency, said dachas currently ranged from the most basic cottages — often little more than glorified sheds in Western eyes — to luxury houses of up to 500 square meters.
The most popular luxury dachas are two-story business-class cottages with two or three bedrooms, and room for cars and a barbeque. The price for such dachas can reach $5,000 per month, Isayenko said, according to Fontanka.ru.
The main requirement of dacha tenants is the proximity of a body of water or a forest. In previous years, tenants sought dachas located around 80 kilometers from St. Petersburg, while this year, they prefer dachas located about 50 kilometers from the city.
Tenants are now demanding more comfort and better security than in years past. Most people want to rent an enclosed territory with a banya, as well as an indoor toilet and shower; said Lyudmila Novikova, manager of the residential department at Peterburgskaya Nedvizhimost, Fontanka.ru reported. They also want the house to have European-standard facilities.
Meanwhile, in popular areas such as the Kurortny district, even fairly old houses are in high demand, and rental prices are steep, even though the properties may not meet any of the demands listed above.
With prices reaching as much as twice what some longtime vacationers are prepared to pay, many are turning to other options — including renting a dacha abroad — or just spending the summer in the city.
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