A place of extraordinary prosperity amidst the Covid-19 pandemic

Housing prices in the village of Krasanya Polyana, Russia have doubled as people from Moscow come here to enjoy life and find inspiration to work.
Nikolai Rogachev, a retail agent in the village of Krasanya Polyana, said the price of a local sotka has increased to 5 million rubles ($68,000) from 2 million rubles ($27,200) before the epidemic season, according to reports. Reuters. The price of land in Russia is measured in units of 100 square meters or sotka.

The price of land in the village is likely to reach 7 million rubles ($95,200) by the end of 2021 due to high demand when foreign tourism is limited. According to real estate data agency CIAN, the price of houses in the village is currently between 40 million and 900 million rubles (from about $544,400 to $12.2 million). Demand to buy houses mainly comes from successful businessmen in big cities. Prices here are above the income of an ordinary Russian. Guests gather at a cafe in the village of Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Photo: Reuters. At the same time, rents have also increased as many people want to temporarily move away from the city to Krasnaya Polyana to work remotely. The local airport is about 40 minutes by car from the village and there is a hiking trail directly from the village. “I love climbing mountains and relaxing at night spots in the village,” said Kirill Ryzhonkov, a data analyst from Moscow. Krasnaya Polyana is a scenic village located in the mountains near the Black Sea. The village is surrounded by mountains, has good quality tap water, fresh air – these are hard to find in Moscow at this time, according to Reuters . The village has about 5,000 inhabitants, similar to many other places in Russia. The difference is that there are many good services with cafes, restaurants, pubs with fast Wifi speed. Some of the restaurants here were built before the Covid-19 epidemic to serve skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Services decided to stay open all year round because residents no longer worried about guests. Guests from Moscow will bring Covid-19. A public workspace mainly serving IT workers and start-ups opened in October 2020. This office owner wishes to turn Krasnaya Polyana into Russia’s Silicon Valley in the future despite the obstacles of the epidemic. “People saw the potential of Krasnaya Polyana: in the same time zone as Moscow, only 2 hours away from Moscow, skiing in winter and sea in summer, as well as the infrastructure for the Olympics before.” Ilya Kreimer, manager of this office said.