NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Top end apartment prices are starting to recover from last year\'s slump. Last month saw end of year pay-rises for many top managers fuel a leap of 3 to 7 per cent in the luxury and business class sector.

The Russian real estate sector, having endured a torrid 2009, is slowly starting to firm, with analysts pointing to an improving economic outlook and the return of credit for potential buyers.

Russia\'s most expensive lodgings are to be found on Pozharsky Pereulok in Moscow, according to a new survey conducted by Forbesrussia.ru

The year of 2009 was characterized by a change in portrait of expats renting elite apartment. A share of the foreign employees, who work in Russian and international companies make about 1/3 of the total number of clients renting apartments.

This summer has been seeing unusual activity within the lettings market as the authorities became concerned about the legal status of lease business. Unofficial deals, rental rate understatement for tax inspection, and absence of properly executed documents – these are just a few offences mentioned by the President at his meeting with Yedinaya Rossiya members.

The number of owners of Moscow flats worth more than $1 million has fallen by a third since the beginning of the year, according to report by real estate analytics. The research showed that prior to the crisis there were 289,355 owners of apartments that were valued at more than $1 million. 

The tax authorities have been waging a campaign to draw landlords\' rental income out of the shadow economy since 2006. At the time, authorities called upon vigilant neighbours to report suspicious new tenants to the tax police.

MOSCOW (RIA, MN) - The air inside Moscow residential buildings is more than twice as polluted as air outside according to the results of a recent study. The study blamed poor quality building material for the increased levels of dangerous substances found in homes across the capital.

Many cities around the world have \"good\" and \"bad\" neighbourhoods, but such a phenomenon is largely absent in Moscow, where rich and poor often share not only the same street but also the same building.

Demand is down, rent is down and estate agents are down - so what can a prospective tenant hope for in Moscow\'s current buyers\' market? We sent a young, professional couple - one expat, one Russian - out to see what was available in or near the Park Kultury area, with a budget of $2,000 a month (67,000 roubles according to most exchange rates, nearer to 75,000 according to most agents).