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Antimonopoly Authority Finds No Price Collusion
Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service spotted no collusion of construction companies in skyrocketing growth of the housing prices in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The bureaucrats reasoned the root cause of the surge is the lack of offers on the market.
More than 60 probes of Moscow, Moscow Region and St. Petersburg departments of Federal Antimonopoly Service into construction companies and non-profit associations revealed no signs of the price collusion. At the same time, the difference between the construction costs and the selling prices stunned even the bureaucrats.
According to Russia’s Statistics Service, the average selling prices for a square meter of housing are twice as high as the average costs of construction in the country. “Moreover, the selling prices don’t depend on the prime costs," said Mikhail Evraev, chief of Federal Antimonopoly Service Department for Control over the Real Estate, Local Monopolies and Housing and Communal Services. Despite the nearly equal costs, the official pointed out, you will pay $4,000 per a square meter in Moscow, $1,400 if it is 30 kilometers from the capital and roughly $800 at around 70 kilometers. So, the conclusion of the antimonopoly authority was the surge in the housing prices of the past two years should be blamed on the lack of the offer exclusively.
At the same time, the bureaucrats paid attention to the great difference in the costs reported by construction companies working even in one and the same city. This fact prompted the Federal Antimonopoly Service to urge Federal Tax Service to clear up the matters.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 25, 2006
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