The development market is changing. Urban housing remains a major industry, but the old model of “built apartments, sold on mortgage demand, moved on to the next project” has become harder: preferential mortgages no longer support massive demand on the same scale, market rates remain a sensitive factor, developers accumulate unsold volume, and the private investor increasingly compares the apartment not only to another apartment, but also to a deposit, a unit, an apartment hotel, glamping, a project joint-stock and other investment tools.
For a developer, it's not the end of the market, it's the need to change strategy. The next line of growth may be in resort areas, where real estate is sold not just as a square meter, but as part of a managed ecosystem: land, apartheid units, glampings, a medical core, a management company, services, routes, investment platforms, project joint ventures and international tourism.
1 Urban housing remains a strong industry, but is no longer the only growth direction.
You can't say that urban housing is no longer needed. That's not true. Cities will be renovated, old stock will be replaced, families will buy apartments, migration to major centers will continue, and developers will continue to build urban projects.
But we can’t pretend that the market has remained the same: the massive preferential mortgage for new buildings, introduced as an anti-crisis measure in 2020, ended on July 1, 2024. According to TASS, this program has issued more than 1.5 million loans worth more than 6 trillion rubles, and experts expected after its completion, the reduction of the mortgage market and the growth of the weighted average rate on housing loans.
After that, the development product was sold in a different environment, the buyer became more cautious, the mortgage load was higher, and the investment apartment no longer looked like the best way to invest money, the market did not disappear, but became more demanding.
For the developer, the main conclusion is simple: if earlier you could count on a massive mortgage flow, now you need to create products with a stronger internal logic.
2.The accumulation of unsold housing changes the negotiating position of the developer
One of the main signals is the growth of unsold volume: according to Izvestia, in February 2026, only 32% of the total area of new buildings was sold in the primary market, while about 68% remained unsold; the total sales decreased from 47% in February 2021 to 32% in 2025-2026.
That doesn't mean that all developers are in the same situation. Strong projects, good locations, and good pricing will have sales, but the industry has changed, and the developer has to keep stock longer, work more actively with installments, discounts, subsidized programs, trade-in, barter, package deals and affiliate schemes.
And that's where the question arises: can some of the competencies, capital, even unsold products be transferred to a new market? The answer is, if it's not about random land purchase, but about a systemic entry into the resort development.
3.The resort area is not a departure from development, but an expansion of the profession
A developer doesn't have to stop being a developer; he needs to expand his product line.
In the city, he builds apartments, commercial spaces, parking lots, public areas, and in the resort area he can build aparthotels, hotel units, modular houses, glampings, service buildings, medical units, bath complexes, restaurants, coworking spaces, club spaces and active tourism facilities.
The skills are similar, but the logic is different: in a city, the object is sold through the need to live close to work, school, transportation and urban infrastructure. In a resort area, the object is sold through recreation, health, personal use, management income, nature, services, international demand and territory growth.
It's just as important, and it's actually more complicated, because it requires not only construction, but also an operating model.
4. Resort development doesn't sell meters, it sells a life scenario.
The apartment is sold as a place of residence, and the resort unit is sold as a scenario: to come by yourself, live in the natural environment, work remotely, take health programs, relax with your family, use services, and in periods of absence, transfer the facility to management.
It's stronger than the conventional rental model. A city apartment often yields moderate returns and requires tenant, repairs, taxes and downtime. A resort unit, if built into a strong ecosystem, can combine personal utility and profitability, but it only works when you have a management company, a download program, services and clear reporting.
The main mistake is to build a resort apartment like a city apartment in a beautiful place, and you can't do that. The resort product has to be designed from the guest, the operator and the program of stay.
5. Wellness and medical tourism give the market new motivation
The global wellness market has become a major economy.The Global Wellness Institute estimates it at $6.8 trillion in 2024, points to a 7.9 percent rise for the year and forecasts an increase to $9.8 trillion by 2029.
For the developer, this means: health, prevention, recovery, sleep, movement, anti-stress, psycho-emotional state, nutrition and quality of life become not soft additions to real estate, but part of the market value.
Altai can be integrated into this agenda not as a spa imitation, but as a territory of deep restoration: nature, mountains, rivers, air, silence, RDT, health school, movement, excursions, baths, medical supervision and long stay programs.
If a developer builds near a core like this, they're building more than just numbers; they're building an asset inside a growing health market.
6.The state tourist agenda strengthens the direction
Tourism in Russia is becoming a separate strategic industry; the national project “Tourism and Hospitality” aims to increase the role of tourism in the economy and increase the number of tourist trips around the country. Official materials of the Ministry of Economic Development describe the goal of the national project as the growth of the role of the industry and an increase in the number of tourist trips.
The Russian government also indicated the goal of increasing trips to 140 million by 2030.
For a developer, this is important not as a guarantee of success, but as a signal of industry support: the state is interested in developing tourism infrastructure, room stock, modular hotels, routes, services and regional clusters. A private developer can enter this trend if his project does not look like a random development, but is built into a regional tourism strategy.
7.Altai as a market is not yet closed by major players
In mature resort markets, the best locations are often distributed, prices are high, competition is tough and entry is expensive. Altai is in a different phase. Tourist demand is already there, the region is recognizable, natural value is strong, but the resort real estate market is not yet fully formed.
It's a rare window for a developer, and in this phase, you can not just build a facility, but you can shape a market: set standards, create service centers, launch a medical core, develop glamping networks, sell units, create project JSCs, form a management company, and increase the value of land through incremental development.
In a mature market, a developer buys value; in an emerging market, he can participate in value creation.
8.The main strategy: not a single hotel, but a resort ecosystem
If a developer just builds another hotel in Chemalsky or Maiminsky district, he will enter into growing competition. Good hotels will fill up, but the more similar facilities, the more competition for guests, advertising, staff, reviews and price.
The strong strategy is different: to build not a single facility, but part of an ecosystem, which has a medical core, aparthotels, glampings, baths, swimming pools, restaurants, routes, excursions, coworking, health school, children's programs, management company, international marketing and design companies for services.
So the developer is not selling a room with a view, but a participation in the resort area, which is stronger for the investor and more sustainable for the operating economy.
9.The first stage should be quick and evidential
A developer doesn't have to start with a large capital hotel. In a resort area, it is often more correct to run first through modular units, a glamping city, a bath complex, a cafe, routes, a wellness block and a minimum management team.
The first step is to prove the demand: who is coming, how many days, what is buying, what is the price of the night, what services are in demand, what is seasonality, what are the reviews, what are the costs, what is the load, and then this data helps sell units, attract investors, build the next line and negotiate with banks.
The development of the resort area should not go on the principle of “build everything immediately”, but on the principle of gradual risk reduction.
10.The management company must be in the project before sales
One of the main factors that trust resort units is the management company, and the investor doesn't buy a unit just because he sees a beautiful render, he wants to know who's going to load the facility, what commissions he's going to charge, how to calculate returns, how to distribute revenue, how to build a repair fund, how to report and how to ensure seasonality.
If the CC is built after construction, the developer risks building an inconvenient facility, and if the CC is involved from the start, it affects the layouts, standards, reception, warehouses, laundry, service flows, tariffs, personal use rules and reporting.
For a developer, it's not a secondary contractor; it's part of an investment product.
11 Units and project AOs should work together
Resort development doesn't have to be limited to unit sales. Units are good for accommodation: aparthotels, modular houses, hotel rooms, glamping houses, but services are better developed through design companies.
Bath complex, medical center, restaurant, excursion company, glamping network, transport service, rental and management company can be issued through project JSC. Investors receive shares, participate in the profits of a particular business and receive corporate rights.
So there's a full-fledged financial architecture: one investor buys a unit for personal use and income; another buys shares in a bath complex; another enters a glamping network; a fourth finances a health center; a developer builds; a MC manages; the land is capitalized.
This is not real estate sales anymore. This is the creation of a resort investment system.
12 Unsold apartments can become an entry resource
Developers have a product in the city that doesn't always sell at the right rate, and can be used as a resource to enter the resort market, and apartments, or commercial spaces can be part of the settlement of land, equity, first-line construction, future resort units, or shares in a project.
It should not be a crude barter scheme; it should be an investment construct with valuation, discount, liquidity checks, tax analysis, legal purity and phased asset transfers.
For a developer, it's a way to not sell a city apartment at an excessive discount, but to move some of the frozen product to a new market, and for a landlord, it's a way to attract a construction partner without waiting for one big investor with live money.
13.International demand must be built up immediately
The Russian tourist is important, but for a resort city you need a wider audience: China, Germany, Russian-speaking Europe, countries with an interest in nature, wellness and medical tourism.
To do this, the product must be internationally understandable: programs for 7, 10, 14 and 21 days, translation, transfer, medical descriptions, contraindications, videos, reviews, understandable prices, foreign languages, service standards, security, logistics and international marketing.
If it is laid down immediately, the developer is building a facility with a wider market, and if not laid, the project will compete only with Russian hotels for a limited seasonal flow.
14 Resort areas require different financial discipline
In urban housing, the developer is used to counting the cost of construction, the sale price, project financing and speed of implementation. In resort development, this is not enough.
It is necessary to consider the operating model: loading, average price of the night, seasonality, commission of the Criminal Code, repair fund, staff costs, energy, cleaning, laundry, marketing, booking channels, additional services, medical programs, excursions, transfers and repeat guests.
Not only is it the sale of units, but the life of the object after the sale, and if the investor buys the unit and doesn't get the management that they expect, the reputation of the project will suffer, so the developer has to think like the operator, even if it's a separate company.
15.The resort developer should become an integrator
The new role of the developer is not just to build. He must assemble the system: land, concept, master plan, design, construction, UK, medical operator, service companies, investors, project joint-stock companies, glamping, international marketing, legal model and the state agenda.
It's harder than building a normal apartment complex, but that's why the market is still not full, and where it's difficult, there's an opportunity for those who can assemble partners.
The resort developer of the future is the integrator of the territory, connecting land, capital, construction, management and demand.
16.A practical entry strategy for a developer
The first step is to choose a territory not by emotion, but by scenarios: water, forest, species, access, engineering, legal status, restrictions, tourist flow, possibility of first-rate, connection with a medical or wellness core.
The second step is to make a master plan and a financial model, not a general render, but a phased economy: first, second, units, services, MCs, glampings, a medical core, project AOs.
The third step is to connect the management company before designing.
The fourth step is to determine investment products: which objects are sold as units, which are issued through project joint-stock companies, which remain with the operator, which are developed through partners.
The fifth step is to start the first step quickly and efficiently: modular units, glamping, bath, cafe, routes, wellness-block.
The sixth step is to collect real data on downloads, reviews, rates, costs and demand.
The seventh step is to scale the territory through new queues, services, international programs and partner investments.
17.What a developer can't do
You can't build a resort like a normal residential complex, and that leads to a product without loading.
You can't sell units without a management company. It will destroy investor confidence.
You can not promise profitability without calculating costs, commissions of the Criminal Code, repair fund and seasonality.
You cannot buy land without legal and engineering inspection.
You can't build up the natural area too tightly, and that will destroy the very reason for the demand.
You can't copy Sochi, Turkey or Dubai. Altai has a different product: nature, health, silence, movement, recovery, RDT, glamping and routes.
You can't put off the services until later. Without services, the resort becomes a sleepover.
You can't just think about the domestic market. You have to design the international product from the beginning.
18 Which developer will win
The winner is not the one who just builds the hulls faster, but the one who manages to create the managed territory.
And the developer will not only count meters, but also loads, not just sales, but also repeat visits, not just views from the window, but also the program of stay, not only architecture, but also operation, not only land, but also its future capitalization, not only units, but also the service economy, not only the Russian tourist, but also international demand.
Resort development is a market for those who know how to think not an object, but a system.
19 What does it give to the Altai Republic?
For the region, this model is more than just new hotels: it creates jobs, services, tax base, international tourism, route development, demand for local products, human resources, small businesses, infrastructure arguments, and rising land values.
If it is built in a chaotic way, Altai will get congestion of popular areas and competition from similar facilities. If it is built in clusters, the region can get a network of resort cities of a new type associated with medical tourism, eco-tourism, glamping, outdoor activities and international demand.
It's not just development anymore. It's territorial development.
20 Final withdrawal of the course
The urban housing market remains, but it can no longer be the developer’s only strategy, and once massive mortgages are completed, unsold volumes are growing, and investors are demanding new product niches.
The Altai resorts offer this opportunity, and you can connect land, construction, medical tourism, wellness, apart-units, glampings, management companies, project joint-stock companies, investment platforms, international demand and long-term capitalization.
The main conclusion: the strategy of the developer of the future is not to move from the sale of real estate, but to the creation of managed resort ecosystems, which can become a new direction for Altai development, and for developers – the second line of growth after urban housing.
Russia’s development market has entered a new phase: City apartments remain an important product, but the old model of fast selling on mortgage demand has become harder, with developers growing unsold volume, buyers becoming more cautious, and investors increasingly comparing apartments to other tools.
The resort areas of Altai can become a new growth line for developers, where real estate is sold not only as a meter, but as part of a managed ecosystem: apart-units, glamping, medical core, RDT, stress, wellness programs, service centers, routes, management company, project joint-stock companies and international tourism.
The winner is the developer who not only takes urban buildings to the mountains, but creates a resort environment, in which land becomes a growth platform, units become an investment product, a medical center becomes a source of year-round load, glamping is a way to unlock nature, and the management company becomes a mechanism for trust and profitability.