For many developers, urban real estate is no longer a fast working asset, apartments are built or under construction, project financing is expensive, sales are slower, preferential mortgages are no longer supporting the market at the same scale, and the volume of unsold housing is growing, in which case a developer apartment can be not only a commodity to be sold to the final buyer, but also a settlement asset to enter new projects.
One practical option is to use unsold apartments, apartments or other city assets as part of the settlement of land, a share in a resort project, participation in a project project project, the right to build the first stage or receive resort units in the future. It is not a simple transaction of sale. It is an investment exchange where the city square meter is transferred to land, resort real estate, service business and future capitalization of the territory.
1.Unsold apartment for the developer is not only a commodity, but also frozen capital
In the classic model, a developer builds a house, sells a flat, closes the project financing, and moves to the next site, and it works well when demand is fast, the mortgage is available, and the buyer is confident in the future, but when sales slow down, the apartment turns into frozen capital.
According to Izvestia, in February 2026, only 32% of the total area of new buildings was sold in the primary housing market, and about 68% remained unsold.The publication also indicated that the total sales decreased from 47% in 2021 to 32% in 2025-2026, and the market accumulated about 1.6 million unsold apartments.
Expert assessment also indicates an increase in the risk of overstocking. “Expert” in April 2026 wrote that the share of apartments that have not found a buyer in rented houses by the end of 2026 can reach 35-40%, which is called the highest level of the current decade.
For a developer, that means that some apartments can no longer be seen as just a quick commodity, but as an asset that can be exchanged, partnered, paid off or used to enter a new market.
2.Why a simple discount isn't always the best option
The most obvious way to sell unsold apartments is to lower the price, but for a developer, it is a dangerous path: a strong discount hits margins, spoils the project's price history, annoys early buyers, reduces the valuation of remaining runoff, and can worsen negotiations with the bank.
Also, lowering prices doesn't always solve the problem: If a buyer is constrained by high mortgage rates, uncertainty, incomes, and the general overheating of the city market, the discount may not create enough demand, resulting in a developer losing price but not getting the desired speed of sales.
So some of the assets can be used differently, not necessarily to sell every apartment at retail, but to use some of the apartments as a settlement tool in a transaction with a landlord, contractor, investor, operator or resort partner.
Historically, barter and exchange schemes in real estate have appeared in crisis periods. RBC wrote back in 2009 that barter relationships allowed developers to go through a difficult period, although when mass use they could lead to price confusion and large discounts. This is an old example, but the logic remains relevant: when monetary liquidity decreases, market participants look for non-monetary forms of settlement.
3. Exchange of apartments for land: logic of the transaction
The idea is simple: a developer has apartments that don't sell quickly or sell at a discount; a land owner has a strong land asset, but he needs developers, construction, first phase and the launch of a resort economy; instead of buying land directly for money, parties can use a mixed deal.
A developer transfers a portion of an apartment, apartment or other city asset to pay for land, rent and buyback, share in a project or the right to build a first line, and the land owner receives not only money, but also a city asset that can be liquidated over time, sold, rented, used for resettlement of staff, exchanged or left as an investment.
For a developer, it's a way to not take a lot out of circulation and sell apartments at an excessive discount, but for a landlord, it's a way to get a building partner and get assets without losing control of the land.
But it has to be legally accurate, and you have to evaluate apartments, land, transfer dates, taxes, encumbrances, mortgages, third-party rights, asset liquidity, registration, liability for default, and exit mechanisms.
4.Why this is especially suitable for Altai resort development
In Altai, strong land is often a scarcer asset than a city apartment, and good location near water, forest, route, tourist flow, future resort center, or medical nucleus does not appear in large numbers, and unlike urban housing, such land cannot be quickly reproduced in large volumes.
For a developer, entering the Altai through land can be a new line of growth, and he shifts his skills from the urban to the resort market: design, construction, unit sales, investor relations, contractor management, product packaging, but instead of a regular apartment, he gets the opportunity to build aparthotels, glampings, units, medical buildings, service facilities and participate in the growth of the resort area.
And it's also beneficial for the landlord if the model is properly designed, and he doesn't just sell the land, he gets a partner to start the construction, to capitalize on the remaining land, to create flow, services and investor trust.
The main idea: the city apartment can be turned into a share in the future resort market.
5. What assets can be used in the calculation
Not only can we use finished apartments, but there are different options.
Pre-made apartments in already-introduced houses, which is the most understandable asset if there are no encumbrances and there is a registered right.
Apartments in buildings under construction under a contract of participation or assignment of rights, there are more legal nuances, because you need to check the stage of construction, project financing, escrow, claims, consents and risks of deadlines.
Apartments or commercial premises: These may be of interest to the landowner if they have clear liquidity or rental potential.
A package of apartments for subsequent sale, and the landlord can get not one object, but a package, which is then sold gradually.
Future units in a resort project, where the landlord can get some of the resort units built instead of money for the land, which is especially logical if he believes in the growth of the territory.
The land can be made as a contribution to the project company, and the developer - by construction, money or obligations.
The strongest model is often mixed: part of the settlement of money, part of the apartments, part of the future units, part of the shares in the project business.
6. Risks to the landowner
The landowner should not accept apartments at the advertising price, you need to look at the real liquidity. If the apartment is formally worth 12 million rubles, but actually sold only for 10 million and still requires time, tax, advertising and maintenance, you need to take it not at the showcase price, but at a conservative estimate.
The second risk is encumbrances, and the apartment can be in a mortgage, a mortgage, a security, a security, a project financing, a non-issued right, or a restriction on assignment, all of which must be checked before the transaction.
The third risk is tax burden: Asset swaps, real estate transfers, equity contributions, assignments, counterclaims offsetting and sales can have different tax consequences, and without tax planning, the deal can be expensive.
The fourth risk is loss of control of the land, where if the landlord gives up too much at once and the developer doesn't build it, the land is blocked, so it's better to use the phased transfer of land and the building commitment.
The fifth risk is the quality of the project, and the developer may try to make up for the lack of money by making it cheaper to build, and this must be prevented by architectural code, technical requirements and controls.
7. Risks for the developer
The main risk for the developer is to overestimate the resort market, and it is not that if apartments are not sold well in the city, then units will be sold automatically in Altai, but the resort product requires a different packaging, management company, services, medical core, routes and a transparent revenue model.
The second risk is to enter the land without legal readiness, and if the category, IRI, IRR, restrictions, access, electricity, water and urban logic do not allow the construction of the desired facility, the developer will freeze the resource.
The third risk is to underestimate infrastructure, because a resort project requires roads, engineering, personnel, operation, heating, communications, sewage, service and year-round operation, and it's not a city playground where there's a lot of things around.
The fourth risk is conflict with the landlord, and if we don't fix the obligations, the timelines, the zones, the control and the economy, the parties will quickly argue over who should have contributed what, who owns the improvements, who gets the income, who runs the territory.
The fifth risk is not to sell the resort units, and to prevent that from happening, you need to pre-connect the management company, the medical operator, the marketing, the financial model and the investment packaging.
8 How to measure exchange: not meters per hectare, but the future economy
The simple comparison of "a flat costs so much, a hectare costs so much" is too primitive. In resort development, you have to count the future economy.
How much is the land now? How much will it cost after the master plan? After the transfer or change of permitted use? After the first stage? After the launch of the medical kernel? After the road, service, glamping, aparthotel and management company?
How much are real developer apartments? How much are they selling at no discount? How much can you sell fast? What are their rental yields? Are there mortgages or encumbrances? How long do you sell them?
And then you can build a model of exchange, for example, some apartments are discounted to the market price, some land is transferred in stages, some of the calculation is tied to the fulfillment of construction obligations, some landowner receives units of the future resort, and some shares in the project JSC.
It requires financial engineering, but that's the power of it: it allows you to go beyond the mere sale.
9. Possible structures of the transaction
The first is a direct exchange of real estate for land, where the developer transfers the apartments, the landlord transfers the land, and the model is simple, but it requires accurate valuation and legal clarity.
The second structure is the set-off of counterclaims: the parties enter into a land sale contract and an apartment sale contract, then make a set-off, which may be more convenient in accounting terms, but requires tax analysis.
The third structure is land leases and buybacks, where a portion of the rent or redemption price is paid by the apartments, which reduces the start-up load on the developer and retains control over the landowner.
The fourth structure is a joint project society, where the land or land title is added to the project company, the developer contributes apartments, money, construction work or obligations, and then the project is implemented through the corporate model.
The fifth structure is the exchange of apartments for future resort units, where the landowner gets the right to a portion of future units after construction, and the developer gets the land or the right to develop.
The sixth structure is a mixed transaction: money, apartments, future units, a share in the project JSC and phased payments.
In practice, the mixed model is often the most effective because it spreads the risks.
10 Why the exchange may be more profitable than the sale of apartments at a large discount
If a developer sells a flat at a large discount, they just lock in the loss, and if they use the flats as part of their land settlement, they can move the asset to a new project with a potentially higher capitalization.
For example, a city apartment can yield low rental yields and sell for a long time, but if it becomes a land settlement in a strong resort location, the developer gets access to a future apartment hotel, glamping or resort town, where you can sell units as an investment product, build services, attract a management company and participate in the growth of the value of the territory.
It doesn't guarantee success, but it moves the developer from a problem runoff to a new market, and in a slowing urban housing environment, it might be more rational than a simple discount.
11 How to explain it to a developer
The developer needs to be clear: you have the building competence, the team, the contractors, the sales and a portion of the frozen urban product. We have the land, the resort concept, the medical core, the future load scenario, the possibility of step-by-step development and the growing health tourism market.
Instead of selling apartments at a discount, you can use some of the apartments as a ticket to a resort project, not to give up the city business, but to diversify, and you transfer some of the capital from the overheated urban housing market to the resort real estate market, units, glamping, medical tourism and long-term land capitalization.
Such a conversation is understandable to the developer if he sees not an abstract dream, but a specificity: the site, legal status, master plan, first stage, calculation of units, management company, medical operator, sales model, timing, budget and exit scenario.
12 How to explain this to the landowner
The landlord needs to understand that apartments can only be taken into account when the deal strengthens the territory's strategy, and that rare land cannot be exchanged for weak illiquid runoff at an inflated price.
Apartments can be useful if they are liquid, legally clean, accepted with a reasonable discount, give an opportunity to receive income or resale, and most importantly, if in return the developer undertakes to build, launch the first stage and develop the territory.
The land owner should demand not just an apartment, but project responsibility: terms, architectural code, operational model, participation of the Criminal Code, prohibition of freezing, fines, phasing and the right to return the site in case of non-performance.
Then the exchange becomes not a concession, but a tool for launching resort development.
13.Use of apartments for the staff of the resort project
There's another scenario: some of the urban apartments that you get in exchange can be used not only for sale, but also as an asset for people, and this is especially true if the apartments are in cities where you can attract professionals: managers, doctors, marketers, designers, IT specialists, salespeople, administrative staff.
But for Altai, the other option is more important: a land owner or a project company can get apartments as a liquid asset, sell them and direct money to build housing for staff already in the resort.
Thus, apartments can indirectly finance not only land, but also personnel infrastructure.
14. Exchange of apartments for a share in the project JSC
An interesting model is that a developer doesn't just buy land, but enters a project joint-stock company, for example, a joint-stock company is created as an aparthotel or glamping, the land owner contributes land or land ownership, the developer makes apartments, money, design, construction or construction obligations, and investors can additionally invest through an investment platform or direct participation.
In this model, apartments can be valued as a contribution or used to attract liquidity, but legally it is more complicated than a simple exchange: you need an assessment, corporate documents, a tax model, a charter, a shareholder agreement, management rules, exit procedures and protection of participants.
The advantage is that participants become not just sellers and buyers, but business partners, which is more in line with the logic of the resort cluster.
15 Why this model could become a bridge between urban and resort development
Many developers are not ready to move from urban housing to resort areas abruptly, they have a different team, different habits, different product, different banks, different buyer, but the exchange mechanism can become a bridge.
A developer doesn't have to withdraw big money right away; he can use a portion of an existing product, go in first, test out the sales of resort units, create experiences, see demand, and then expand.
The landlord doesn't have to wait for the perfect investor with the money, but he can bring in the developer through a flexible model and get the land up and running faster.
Investors get a new product: units and shares in resort projects; the management company gets a room fund; the medical core gets a flow of guests; the territory gets capitalized.
So the city real estate is turned into fuel for resort development.
16 What to prepare for negotiations
A package is needed to negotiate with the developer.
The first is the description of the land: area, location, cadastral data, legal status, restrictions, access, engineering, types, natural advantages, tourist logic.
The second is the concept of the resort project: what we are building, for whom, what is the first stage, what is the medical or wellness anchor, what services, what routes, what are the glampings.
The third is the financial model: the cost of land, the cost of the first stage, the forecast of unit sales, loading scenarios, the Criminal Code commission, expenses, investor returns, capitalization of the remaining land.
The fourth is the options for the transaction: money, apartments, future units, project JSC, rent with a buyout, a mixed model.
Fifth – requirements for the assets of the developer: legal purity of apartments, valuation, liquidity, no encumbrances, discounts, transfer procedure.
Sixth – obligations of the developer: terms of design, construction, sales, connection of the UK, compliance with the master plan and architectural code.
Seventh, the mechanism of protection of the land owner: phased transfer, repurchase, fines, termination, prohibition of resale without approval, quality control.
Without this package, the conversation is an idea. With the package, it becomes an investment proposal.
17. What can't be done.
You can't take overpriced apartments just because a developer needs to get rid of runoff. Land in a strong resort location may be a more promising asset than unsold city apartments.
You can't give up all the land without building obligations.
You can't do an exchange without tax and legal analysis, and a flaw in structure can destroy the economics of the transaction.
You can not take illiquid apartments in weak locations, if there is no clear plan for their implementation.
You can't build a resort just because a developer has apartments to swap, but a developer must have the competence, the team and the willingness to work in a new model.
You can't promise unit investors returns that the project hasn't yet proven.
18.The practical conclusion
Apartments in exchange for land and resort assets are not a universal scheme or a simple barter deal, but a financial tool for a period when urban development is under pressure and resort areas can become a new growth point.
For a developer, it's a way to move some of the frozen urban product into a promising resort market; for a land owner, it's a way to attract a construction partner and start capitalizing the territory; for Altai, it's an opportunity to accelerate the creation of resort clusters without waiting for one major investor.
The main conclusion: unsold apartments can become not a problem, but a resource for entering the resort development, if they are properly exchanged for land, units, shares in project joint-stock companies or participation in the development of the resort area.
Developers are accumulating unsold urban products: apartments, commercial space and rights to future properties, and in the face of expensive mortgages and slowing sales, this asset can be seen not only as a commodity for retail sales, but also as a tool for entering new projects.
For Altai resort development, this opens up a practical model: a developer can use a part of the apartments as payment for land, a share in the project, the right to build the first stage, future resort units or participation in a project joint-stock company. The land owner gets not just a buyer, but a construction partner who launches the territory and increases the value of the remaining land.
Such a model requires careful evaluation, legal purity, tax analysis, and phased control, but if structured correctly, it can become a bridge between the overheated urban housing market and the new Altai resort market.