Over three years, the supply of new buildings with the prefix “plus” has doubled

Experts have found out that 74 new buildings of "intermediate" classes are sold on the primary market of the capital - 30% of the total supply. We are talking about houses of the "comfort plus" and "business plus" classes, which the developers themselves define as an improved version of the usual segments. Over three years, the supply of housing of "intermediate" classes has almost doubled.

However, experts are sure that such projects do not always have higher quality characteristics. Often, this is nothing more than a marketing ploy, which, on the contrary, masks the shortcomings of the project.

According to Urban Grade analysts, as of June 2025, 49 new buildings of the “comfort plus” class (with a total area of 526 thousand square meters) are being sold in “old” Moscow. Their share is 37% of the total supply of the mass segment.

Three years ago, there were 32 new buildings of the “comfort plus” class (263 thousand square meters) put up for sale (22% of the total volume in the mass segment).

The business class includes 25 complexes with the prefix "plus", or 238 thousand meters. Their share was 25% of the total "business" supply. In 2022, the list was reduced to 18 addresses (140 thousand "squares"). In premium and elite projects, intermediate classes were not found in the positioning.

Developers claim that the prefix "plus" allows to indicate that the residential complex has additional advantages and features typical for more expensive segments. At the same time, it remains at the price level of its class.

This trend is especially noticeable in the business class, where developers, due to high competition, try to surprise buyers with premium delights. In particular, they use more expensive finishing materials and engineering (for example, they install high-speed elevators), add premium services and infrastructure (designer lobbies, SPA or thermal centers).

Similar trends can be observed in the comfort class. In the fight for buyers, developers are upgrading their offerings: increasing the area of housing, diversifying planning solutions, and designing fewer apartments on the stairwell.

However, the blurring of class boundaries also has negative consequences.

- In Russia, real estate classes are not defined by law, which opens up the opportunity for developers to interpret the differences in their own way and sometimes mislead consumers. Blurring the boundaries between classes only worsens the confusion in the minds of buyers. They have no understanding of what quality characteristics must be present in a particular price segment. In such a case, it is easy for an unscrupulous developer to save on some basic things, while embellishing their project with a feature from a more expensive segment, throwing dust in the eyes. As a result, people overpay for the prefix "plus", but do not receive the proper quality of the project, - summarizes CEO and founder of the Urban award Olga Khasanova.

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