No overheating on Almaty lodging market is observed - expert

/INTERFAX-KAZAKHSTAN, Almaty, June 7, 05/ - "At present it's too early to say about overheating of the market today, but the first quarter has shown a troubling symptoms", - Murat Yuldashev president of BTA Ipoteka sais on Tuesday. He says the overheated market is the situation, when demand for goods is formed mainly not by real consumers, who wish to exploit it according to its meaning, but by buyers, who want to make money by reselling it. Yuldashev says the market may overheat when the stake of investors and speculators begins to dominate on the market. "The situation becomes dangerous, when this category of consumers monopolize demand, and absence of real consumers sooner or later will result in the necessity of mass sale of unprofitable houses at lower prices.", - he said. He says today prices on Almaty lodging market "are formed in quite a market way, and they grow on quite normal reasons". "Demand considerably exceeds offer. According to statistics, population in Almaty in year 2004 grew by 34 th. persons, approximately 10 th. new families. So 10 th. new flats are needed, but during a year only about 2-3 th. flats are set in exploitation. So growth of prices is obvious", - he said. He says the so called lodging availability coefficient may be one of indirect signs of overheating. "While this coefficient is within 2 to 8, real consumers may buy lodging. So in year 2004 there was no overheating in Almaty - the coefficient was 6.2", - Yuldashev said. [2005-06-08]