With dozens of billionaires living in Moscow, owning luxurious real estate in the city is one way of showing off that wealth: from spacious apartments in central locations to mansions outside Moscow.

Of all the great variety of luxury apartments, perhaps the most glamourous has always been the penthouse which retains its allure among business tycoons and senior executives. There are no Soviet-era penthouses in Moscow as the market is relatively new, real estate experts say. The first penthouses were built only after perestroika.

Real versus pseudo

«Clearly, in the Soviet period the construction of penthouses was out of the question. In the country of victorious socialism all were supposed to be living in typical panel block apartments», Alexander Ziminsky, director of elite property department at Penny Lane Realty, told The Moscow News. Ziminsky said the first penthouses appeared in Moscow between 1997 and 1998, when the construction of luxury houses began.

The penthouse market in Moscow remains small. According to Elena Lashko, director of development at the elite property agency Usadba, there are only about 30 genuine penthouses in the city – the rest are simply top-floor apartments. «A lot of apartments are presented as penthouses. Our agency once came across a case where an equipment room for elevators was described as a penthouse».

Penthouse features

A real penthouse has a panoramic view, ceilings up to four metres high and luxury equipment up to and sometimes including a heliport. Experts say that as demand for penthouses in Moscow has always been high, it is not difficult to sell such apartments. The only question that realtors have when selling a penthouse is what is a reasonable price and a sensible size. Ironically, they can sometimes be too big.

«We have had offers for penthouse apartments as big as 1,500 square metres with proportionately huge prices. Such penthouses are not very functional and are therefore not useful at all», Anna Levitova, managing partner of Evans Property Services, told The Moscow News.

Lashko advised buyers to pay close attention to the roof of a penthouse. «Our real estate brokers have faced situations where the roof was completely covered by the house’s exit vents».

If the roof is large enough – and free of fire escapes or other statutory features – it’s possible to have a heliport or covered swimming pool up there. The other most notable feature of penthouses in Moscow is that very often they extend over two or three levels, which makes them especially attractive. Sometimes they occupy an entire top floor.

One of the best examples of such penthouses is the two-floor apartment in the Kopernik residential complex on Ulitsa Bolshaya Yakimanka. Its outstanding feature is a huge round window that spans two floors.

The apartment has not been sold yet, as the price is almost $20 million. Estimates put the price range for a square metre of an average penthouse between $24,300 and $29,600, according to Ziminsky, of Penny Lane.

Owning a penthouse

This puts the total price for a Moscow penthouse between $5 million and $20 million, a market that attracts high-profile business executives and oligarchs. «Buyers of penthouses are, as a rule, representatives of the major commodity businesses, having sufficient funds to purchase such apartments and invest», said Ziminsky.

«Penthouses are usually popular among young people or couples with no children who love to party and want to impress their guests», said Levitova, of Evans Property. Ziminsky said that penthouses appeal to a narrow sector of the market.

«This kind of property suits progressive people open to everything new, not afraid of change and not prone to stereotypes». He said they are not for everyone. «Conservative people who follow the established traditions aren’t able to feel comfortable in these spacious penthouses».

Source: The Moscow News