"We decided to stop at 6 p.m. [local time] [2 p.m. GMT] today, into the 12th day of our open-ended hunger strike, considering the deteriorating health of some participants as well as the fact that the Public Chamber and the State Duma [parliament's lower house] have begun to take some action," activist Sergei Korolev told reporters.
The decision came after a meeting with Regional Development Minister Yury Tyrtyshov, Public Chamber member Anatoly Kucherena and MP Alexander Khinstein, who promised to set up a task force to deal with unscrupulous real estate developers and agents. Members of the general public should be part of that force, along with government officials, law enforcers and experts, they said.
Moscow's housing market has been in disarray in recent years, with building companies using fair and less-than-fair schemes to cash in on the ever-surging demand for living space. Commercial housing prices have been rising by an average of 40-50% year-on-year. In September, the price of one square meter of residential space reached an all-time high of $4,000, making the Russian capital the world's costliest megalopolis in terms of accommodation.
Yielding to public pressure, City Hall called on housing developers to hold back galloping prices, but stopped short of taking any regulatory measures that would prevent further price hikes, saying it had no control over market forces.
First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said, however, that the Russian government could push prices down by stepping up the construction of cheap housing and introducing low-income mortgages as part of President Vladimir Putin's ambitious social spending program, which also envisages hefty allocations for public health and education.
Medvedev, placed in charge of the program, said: "It is possible to reach the target of 51 million square meters of housing in 2006," but acknowledged that "the current pace is not fast enough to satisfy demand."
