Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Center for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR) regularly analyzes changes in demand in the real estate and car markets. The increase in demand in these markets in January-February this year indicates a recovery in economic activity in Uzbekistan.

Real estate market

During the coronavirus pandemic, economic activity plummeted amid quarantine restrictions. In particular, in April, the lockdown led to a decrease in demand for real estate by 87.1% (by 94.2% in Tashkent and 89.8% in Tashkent region) compared to the same period of 2019.

In February, the number of real estate contracts concluded in the country increased by 11.5% compared to January (by 19.7% compared to February 2020). In Tashkent, which accounts for more than 30% of the real estate market, this figure was 10.8% (23.7% by February 2020).

Car market

Usually, the monthly growth in car sales in the primary and secondary markets in the republic is on average 2-3%. As a result of the introduction of strict quarantine measures from mid-March 2020, the number of registered and re-registered cars in March decreased by 17.3% compared to the same period in 2019 (by 34.6% compared to the previous month), and in April - by 73. 8% (by 63.1%).

Since May, the situation in the car market has begun to recover again. In particular, in June, car sales increased by 14.8% compared to the same period in 2019 (15.7% compared to the previous month). In August this figure was 3.8% (54.3% to the previous month).

The demand in the car market in September-October also continued to grow. Compared to the corresponding period of 2019, sales increased in September by 29.5%, in October by 19.2%, in November by 9% and in December by 10%.

In February, the demand of the population in the car market increased by 3% compared to January. However, compared to February 2020, this indicator decreased by 10.4%. This is mainly due to the fact that the Asaka plant temporarily stopped production in January-February 2021 to carry out all the necessary upgrades.

By region, the highest growth rates were observed in Andijan (37%), Bukhara (18.4%) and Kashkadarya (18%) regions.