Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Housing and Construction Markets

This chapter, “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Housing and Construction Markets,” shows the unpreparedness of certain market segments to the adaption needed to weather the current situation. Digital transformation was supposed to be the main trend in the housing market. A significant problem was the multidirectional information and the aggregate of data that was provided to the subjects of the housing market. This predetermined the need to improve the information infrastructure of the Russian housing market, considering international experience. Foreign experience shows both the active digitalization of data and the availability of sufficiently effective tools that allow market participants to make informed and adequate decisions regarding the construction or purchase of housing. Within the framework of this study, the information infrastructure of the Russian housing market was presented. This considered how both modern digital technologies and the consequences of the crisis (which itself does not have an economic essence) have impacted on the housing sector. Since the role of the state in the country is quite significant, this aspect was also considered in the formation of this infrastructure. The author proposes to create a single information center that will accumulate, process, and issue the required information to market entities. The author showed that at the initial stages, financing the formation of the information infrastructure of the housing market can be carried out from state funds, which will make it possible to free up funds for the development of not only the market, but also related industries. The author showed the influence that the information infrastructure of the housing market has on decisions to build or purchase housing, as well as on the process of financing market entities.