By the Vesti Baku Editorial Board
The success of housing construction in Baku should be measured by what the people who work in the city can afford. Can they buy an apartment, raise children and pay for housing while still having enough money for a normal life?
A beautiful facade looks good in a photograph. Whether an apartment is affordable is determined somewhere else: at the table where a family calculates its income, expenses and down payment.
That is where the conversation about the capital’s development becomes far less celebratory.
According to the Azerbaijan Chamber of Appraisers’ September 2026 monitoring, the median price per square meter was 2,850 manats in new buildings and about 2,692 manats on the secondary market. These are market benchmarks; the price of a particular apartment may be lower or higher depending on its location, condition and documentation.
For this calculation, take a 60-square-meter apartment at the first of those benchmarks. The price comes to 171,000 manats, before a separate budget for renovation, furniture and moving costs.
Now put another figure beside it. Azerbaijan’s State Statistical Committee said the average monthly nominal salary in January-August 2026 was 1,173 manats. That is a gross figure before deductions and a nationwide average, not the salary of a typical homebuyer in Baku. Even so, it helps show the scale of the challenge.
The apartment in this example costs about 146 such monthly salaries - more than 12 years of earnings in their entirety.
That means no food, no transportation, no children - no life itself.
Homes are, of course, also bought with family savings, help from parents or the proceeds from selling another property. That is precisely why the main question concerns someone who has none of those advantages. How can that person enter the market on a salary alone?
The usual answer sounds simple: there is a mortgage.
Under the terms of Azerbaijan’s Mortgage and Credit Guarantee Fund, a standard mortgage can provide up to 150,000 manats for as long as 25 years, with a down payment starting at 15%. The maximum annual interest rate for a loan without a fund guarantee is 8%. Other conditions apply, and subsidized programs are available to certain categories of citizens.
For the hypothetical apartment, the down payment would be 25,650 manats. Saving 300 manats a month would take a little more than seven years, assuming the price of the home did not change.
Borrowing the remaining 145,350 manats for 25 years at 8% would produce an annuity payment of about 1,122 manats a month. This is an editorial calculation that excludes insurance, commissions and registration costs; it is not a bank offer.
For a household with two salaries of 1,173 manats each, that payment would absorb nearly 48% of combined gross income. After mandatory deductions, the burden on disposable income would be even higher.
That is the price of homeownership for a family in which both adults work. The loss of one income, an illness or the birth of a child could sharply change the calculation.
The existence of a mortgage program by itself does not answer whether housing is affordable. The down payment, the stability of household income and the amount left after the monthly payment all matter.
The same test applies to rent-to-own housing. Its usefulness should be measured by how many families can actually use the mechanism and sustain the payments for the full term.
Baku needs investment, new neighborhoods, hotels and resort projects. Sea Breeze and other major developments can have a place in the market. But success in the high-end segment cannot automatically be treated as a solution to the housing problem facing working residents.
The city needs a clear path for teachers, nurses, engineers and shop workers - the people whose labor keeps daily life running.
If the only realistic route to a home requires an inheritance or substantial help from relatives, work ceases to be a sufficient foundation for independence. Someone can work conscientiously for years and still depend on whether the family has an apartment to sell.
Housing policy needs measurable targets: What share of families can buy a standard apartment? How many years are required to save the down payment? What share of income does the monthly payment consume? Baku needs affordable options with clear documentation, transportation links and social infrastructure.
Long-term rentals with predictable terms also deserve attention. People should be able to live securely and plan for the future even when buying a home remains out of reach.
Rising real-estate prices benefit the owner of an asset. For a family trying to buy its first home, the same increase lengthens the distance to that goal. Both sides must be heard in the public debate.
Baku has every right to pursue striking architecture and international recognition. But the capital’s development faces a more important test than its next skyline.
Can the people whose work sustains this city afford to live in it?
Sources: State Statistical Committee; Azerbaijan Chamber of Appraisers figures reported by Banker.az; standard mortgage terms.
Originally published in Russian by Vesti Baku.