Kazakhstan's Real Estate Market Expecting Another Shock

On February 1, the real estate market of Kazakhstan will experience another shock caused by the increase in the difference between buying and selling rates of foreign currencies in the country. Local specialized publications report that exchange offices and commercial banks have obtained the right to introduce new buying and selling rates of currencies. For example, this difference will be 6 tenge for the dollar exchange rate and 7 tenge for the euro. For comparison, today these figures stand at 2 and 3 tenge respectively.

According to Vadim Iosuba, the senior analyst of the international company Alpari, this decision of the National Bank will have no impact on the scope of cash foreign currencies. He says the level of dollarization of all kinds of real estate transactions will not change. According to experts, the decision to limit the difference between buying and selling exchange rates of foreign currency is aimed at stabilizing the cash segment of the foreign exchange market. “The purpose of this step is to reduce the margin for exchangers and minimize the costs of all types of of purchases and sales of foreign currency"," Iosuba said.

Deputy President of the United Association of Realtors of Kazakhstan Nina Lukyanenko believes that the new exchange rate difference will be dangerous in terms of additional currency speculations. She said, “If the exchange rate difference is changed, it will be a hard hit for those who were unable to purchase real estate items after the collapse of tenge in 2015. Many people will have to postpone the purchase of houses and apartments again, being afraid to lose a significant sum on the exchange. On the other hand, this step may be one of a series of measures aimed at accelerating de-dollarization of the Kazakh economy."

Source: easttime.info