The dwelling construction volume increased by 32.8% when compared with the same period in 2014. The head of the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities, Mikhail Menn, spoke of this at an all-Russian conference, “The situation of the construction industry in Russia”. Following his talk, the volume of construction works has been allowed to continue at the same level as 2014 and is now considered satisfactory. “In particular, the number of contracts signed in the first quarter of 2015 has increased by 22% when compared with the last quarter of 2014, and the provision of construction companies with contracts has increased from 1.8 to 3.1 months, which shows the tendency of the growing demand for construction products,” he said. Speaking at the United Institute of Housing Mortgage Lending Agency and Russian Housing and Development, Menn stressed that one of its priorities will be the “Housing for a Russian Family” program. Also, he pointed out that concrete prices have decreased by 3.4% when compared with those in September 2014. This means that the situation concerning the market of main construction materials is quite steady. The significant increase in prices for home-produced construction materials, much spoken of at the beginning of the year, turned out to be a consequence of traders’ play in the conditions of an unsteady economic situation. This is now under the control of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Menn explained.
