How many years to save for an apartment: housing affordability in Russia according to Rosstat
· Жильё
A 54‑square‑metre apartment on the secondary market in 2025 cost on average 7.04 million rubles across Russia. That is 5.8 years of the average gross salary, if you do not spend a single ruble from it. For a family with one earner this is the "how many years to save" figure, although in reality it never works that way: the salary in this calculation is before tax, and there are also food, housing and utilities. Below: how this period has changed since 2000, in which regions it is half as long or three times longer than the average, and what an ordinary person can take away from these numbers for themselves. All charts open on the website in interactive form.
How to calculate: price per square metre, 54 square metres and salary
The period is obtained by simple division. Take the average price per square metre on the secondary market, multiply by 54 and divide by the annual salary. The figure 54 m² is not accidental: it is the normative area for a family of three, used to calculate the housing affordability coefficient. Prices and salaries are taken from Rosstat, the calculation is compiled on the page housing affordability by region.
Take 2025. A metre on the secondary market cost 130,359 rubles, so 54 metres amount to 7.04 million. The average salary across Russia for 2025 was 101,784 rubles per month, which is about 1.22 million per year. Divide: we get 5.8 years.
A caveat, more important than the figure itself, comes first. This is a comparison of price and income, not a savings plan. The salary here is gross, before personal income tax, and the average is always higher than that of a typical worker: most earn less. If you want to see where you stand relative to this "average" figure, look at the median salary and your position among the regions.
Dynamics: how the price per square meter outran wages and vice versa
To understand the timeline, two lines are needed: price per square meter and wages. First, the price.
In 1998 the meter on the secondary market cost 4,941 rubles, in 2000 it was already 6,590, in 2010 about 60 thousand, and by 2025 it had risen to 130,359 rubles. The noticeable drop in 2011 (from 59,998 to 48,243 rubles) is not due to a market decline but to a change in the Rosstat series itself. See the full table with other types of apartments in the secondary housing market price set.
Now the wages.
During the same years the salary grew from 1,051 to 101,784 rubles per month, almost a hundredfold. The meter price increased 26 times over that period. Thus, in the long run wages caught up with housing, but not always and not evenly. The yearly dynamics can be expanded on the average salary page, and your savings can be recalculated into past‑year money using the inflation calculator.
How many years of salary a flat cost: the main chart
If you divide one by the other for each year, you get a curve, which is why the article was written.
Three periods are visible. In 1998 a flat cost 21 years of salary: the ruble had just collapsed and salaries were tiny. By the early 2000s the period fell to 11–13 years. Then the rise in housing prices in 2006–2008 pushed it back up to almost 16 years (15.6 in 2007). After that a long decline followed: 9.3 years in 2011, 7.4 in 2015, only 5.5 years in 2019, the lowest in the whole series. Since 2019 the period hardly moves and stays around 5.8–6 years, with a separate spike to 6.5 years in 2022.
| Year | Price per 1 m² | Monthly salary | Years of salary for 54 m² |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 6,590 ₽ | 2,223 ₽ | 13.3 |
| 2007 | 47,206 ₽ | 13,593 ₽ | 15.6 |
| 2015 | 56,283 ₽ | 34,030 ₽ | 7.4 |
| 2019 | 58,528 ₽ | 47,867 ₽ | 5.5 |
| 2025 | 130,359 ₽ | 101,784 ₽ | 5.8 |
What this means for a family. Today's "secondary" flat is cheaper relative to salary than in 2000, when it required more than 13 years of work, and twice as cheap as in 2007. But it became cheaper not because prices fell: salaries grew faster, especially after 2011. The period of 5–6 years on its own remains significant: a flat on average across the country costs more than five years of a whole salary without any spending.
Where housing is more affordable and where it is not: regions
The Russian average hides a huge difference. In 2024 (the latest year for which Rosstat has regional prices) the payback period for a 54 m² apartment looked like this.
Housing is most affordable in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug: 3.7 years. The price per square metre is 102,700 rubles, and the average salary is 124,744 rubles, so high prices are offset by high incomes. Next are Murmansk Oblast (3.8), Yamalo-Nenets Okrug (3.8) and Magadan Oblast (3.9). In Chelyabinsk Oblast it takes 4.9 years, in Moscow 5.1, in Sverdlovsk 5.6, in Novosibirsk 6.2.
The most expensive apartments are where salaries do not keep up with prices. Sevastopol: 12.4 years, 157,000 rubles per metre with a salary of 56,942 rubles. Republic of Crimea: 12.2 years. Krasnodar Krai: 11.7 years, 182,800 rubles per metre, and a salary of 70,410 rubles. Altai Republic: 10.7 years.
Moscow and St. Petersburg are not where one might expect. In Moscow 54 metres cost 17.3 million rubles, the highest amount in the country, but the salary is also high (162,572 rubles), so the period is 8.9 years. St. Petersburg is almost the same: 9.0 years. Dagestan, with a cheap metre (90,000 rubles), also gives 9.1 years because the average salary there is 44,639 rubles. This is a good example of why the price per metre alone is insufficient: it matters what it is compared with.
The ranking of all 84 regions with prices and salaries is available on the housing affordability page. You can find your figure there by region name, and compare salaries by subjects in the regional salary ranking.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many years does one need to work for an apartment in Russia?
On average across the country, it takes 5.8 years of average gross salary to afford a 54 m² apartment on the secondary market (2025). In 2000 it was 13.3 years, in 2019 it was 5.5 years. This is not a savings period, because the calculation does not include living expenses and taxes.
In which region is an apartment most affordable?
According to 2024 data, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug it is 3.7 years of salary. Next are Murmansk Oblast and the Yamalo-Nenets Okrug with 3.8 years. Less than six years also in Moscow, Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk Oblasts.
Where is an apartment most expensive relative to salary?
In Sevastopol (12.4 years), Crimea (12.2) and Krasnodar Krai (11.7). In Moscow, where the meter is the most expensive in the country, the period is 8.9 years, because salaries are higher there.
Why can’t you simply divide the price of an apartment by the salary and say that many years of saving?
Because part of the salary goes to taxes, food, rent and everything else. The average salary is higher than typical: most workers earn less. A household may have two earners, which halves the period. And if you take a mortgage, you also have to pay interest. Rosstat’s calculation shows the price‑to‑income ratio, not a personal plan.
Are new‑build apartments more expensive?
Not always. In 2024 the price per meter in a new‑build in Moscow Oblast was 196,100 rubles, versus 112,900 on the secondary market; in Krasnodar Krai it was 147,000 versus 182,800, so it can be the opposite. See more in the article on housing prices.
What you can do with these figures
First, stop using the national average salary and use regional data and your own. If your family has two earners, halve the period. If your income is below the regional average salary, multiply it.
Second, look at the trend, not a single figure. A period of 5.8 years looks long, but in 2007 it was 15.6, and those were also “ordinary” people with “ordinary” salaries.
Third, remember that statistics show the regional average, not your neighborhood. Within a region, the price per meter varies by city and district, and the calculation uses only the average for the subject.
Summary
A 54 m² apartment on the secondary market in 2025 costs 5.8 years of the average salary in Russia. In 2000 this was 13.3 years, the peak was in 2007 (15.6), the minimum in 2019 (5.5). Regional variation is huge: from 3.7 years in Yugra to 12.4 in Sevastopol. Moscow and St. Petersburg, despite the most expensive square meters, stay around 9 years because wages are high there. The calculation shows the price‑to‑income ratio, not the saving period: living expenses, taxes and mortgage interest are not included. Source of all data: Rosstat.