Almaty's Housing Crisis: Wealth Divide as Prices Soar

Almaty's housing market is a tale of two cities. While the wealthy snap up luxury properties, many newcomers and locals are priced out, leading to a stark social divide.

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2025 October 7 . 10:31 AM

2 min read

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Almaty's Housing Crisis: Wealth Divide as Prices Soar

Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, is grappling with a severe housing crisis. Rapid growth and high demand are pushing prices skyward, leaving many newcomers and locals struggling to find affordable homes. The city is witnessing a stark social divide, with the wealthy snapping up luxury properties while the less affluent are forced to live in illegal settlements on the outskirts.

Almaty's housing market is a tale of two cities. On one hand, it's a playground for the rich, with foreign investors and speculators driving up the price of gold. A square meter in a new building costs between 750,000 and 1,200,000 Tenge, and a simple two-bedroom apartment can set you back between 50 and 70 million Tenge. On the other hand, many newcomers and locals are priced out, with up to 100,000 people moving to the city each year, exacerbating the pressure.

Despite a construction boom, the gold price remains unaffordable. Mortgage loans, which could help, are often out of reach due to high income requirements, interest rates, and down payment amounts. The city center and wealthy south are becoming enclaves, while the outskirts are impoverishing, leading to a social divide. The city is expanding mainly to the west and east, with active construction sites in the Alatau and Raimbek Prospekt districts.

To tackle this issue, measures such as promoting affordable rental housing, reforming mortgage policies, and investing in outskirts infrastructure could help. However, unfortunately, there is no specific information available on organizations or institutions in Almaty that have initiated measures to promote housing projects with lower rentals or purchase prices to prevent the rise of social inequality.