Which developer breaks deadlines more often than others, and what should shareholders do

By February 2026, the rental situation among Russia's largest developers had deteriorated markedly. According to the Unified Resource of Developers (ERZ), the share of facilities built in violation of schedules among the five leading developers in the country reached 12.7% of the total construction volume. In absolute terms, this amounts to more than 1.95 million square meters of housing. The dynamics are particularly alarming: Back in February 2025, this figure was only 3.2% (503.8 thousand square meters out of 15.7 million under construction). Thus, in just one year, the volume of problematic construction among market leaders has almost quadrupled. Which of the developers breaks deadlines most often Among the five largest companies in terms of construction volume, the most difficult situation has developed in the Aeroplane Group. Currently, the company is building 4.71 million square meters, while the schedules are shifted by almost 1.22 million "squares", which is 26% of the entire portfolio. For comparison, in February last year, the share of projects with transfers from the "Airplane" did not exceed 6.8%. The Etalon group follows in the anti-rating: here, violations of deadlines affect about a quarter of the areas under construction. For the Precisely group of companies, the transfers affected 9.5% of the housing stock (219.3 thousand square meters out of 2.3 million), and this figure also increased almost fourfold over the year. PEAK delays are observed in 7.8% of housing under construction (almost 319,000 square meters out of 4.07 million). FGC Group closes the top five market leaders with 6.5% of transfers and Dogma with 3.1%. Experts note that although the situation cannot yet be called catastrophic, it is an alarming signal for the market. In conditions of strict banking control over project financing, the proportion of objects with modified deadlines within a few percent is usually considered acceptable. The situation is even more dramatic for some developers with smaller construction volumes. For example, the Squadra group of companies from Primorsky Krai has disrupted schedules for half of all meters under construction. At the Rostov MSK, this figure is approaching 45%, at the Krasnodar Metrix Development, it reaches 41%. The absolute anti-leaders were the St. Petersburg Seven Suns Development and the Moscow UEZ, where every meter under construction is delayed. The main reasons for the frequent deadlines Analysts and market participants agree that the increase in the number of delays is caused by a complex of factors that have accumulated recently. Among the key reasons are: The instability of prices for building materials, which makes it difficult to plan the long-term budget of projects. Critical increase in the cost of credit funds: in recent years, the cost of borrowing for developers has more than doubled. Acute shortage of skilled labor in the labor market. Under the current conditions, developers are forced to rigidly optimize the cost of construction. This is reflected in the limitation of the number of contractors involved and the reduction of the wage fund allocated for overtime and overwork. Any such savings inevitably leads to an increase in the duration of construction cycles. An additional blow to the market was the sharp cooling of consumer demand after the completion of the mass preferential mortgage program in 2025. Combined with tight monetary policy, this led to an increase in the share of problematic properties among the top 5 developers to 12.7%. Shareholders' rights and procedures in case of delay With the end of 2025, the moratorium on the collection of fines from developers has also ended. Now, every day of delay in the transfer of the apartment is converted into financial obligations to the buyer. The main tool for protecting the rights of shareholders remains the penalty. Its amount is 1/150 of the Central Bank's key rate of the contract price for each day of delay. If the developer refuses to voluntarily satisfy the legal requirements, the court additionally imposes a fine in the amount of 5% of the amount awarded. Lawyers recommend the following algorithm of actions for affected buyers: 1. Record the fact of delay in writing by sending an official complaint to the developer. 2. Only after that, if the requirements are not satisfied, apply to the court. With a significant delay (more than two months) the shareholder has the right to unilaterally terminate the equity agreement. In this case, a citizen may demand not only a full refund of the invested funds, but also the payment of interest for their use. An important warning from analysts: it will not be possible to collect a penalty for the period of the moratorium — from March 22, 2024 to December 31, 2025. These days are legally excluded from calculations, even if the delay started earlier or is still ongoing.