Kazakhstan's commercial real estate market is demonstrating resilience to change. In Forbes Kazakhstan's latest ranking of the country's 20 largest rentiers, the top seven businessmen have fully retained their positions compared to last year. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Top of the ranking unchanged

The upper part of the ranking has remained virtually unchanged. The leader is Nurlan Smagulov, founder and owner of Astana Group, who owns the MEGA shopping and entertainment center chain in Almaty and Astana.

He is followed by Timur Kulibayev, who owns a number of large commercial real estate properties, including the St. Regis and Vega business centers, the Keruen and Talan Gallery shopping and entertainment centers, the Emerald Tower business center, as well as the Sputnik Mall and Moskva shopping and entertainment centers and the Promenade multifunctional complex; Serik Tolbasy, owner of the Dostyk Plaza shopping and entertainment center, the Eurasia shopping center and the Shymkent Plaza shopping and entertainment center; and ForteBank co-owner Bulat Utemuratov, who owns various business centers in Astana and Almaty.

The list also includes the Mukashev family, owners of the Aport Mall West and East shopping and entertainment centers, and the Belovich family, who own various business centers in Astana and Almaty, as well as Serzhan Zhumash, who holds stakes in the Esentai Mall shopping and entertainment center and the Esentai Tower business center.

At the same time, Yakov Tskhai retains 16th place in the ranking for the second year in a row. He owns stakes in the Forum Almaty shopping and entertainment center and the Zeleny Bazar.

Movements in the second half

Point movements begin only in the second half of the ranking. Kairat Boranbayev, co-owner of Esentai Mall and the Esentai Tower business center, for example, rose from 8th to 7th place, sharing the position with Zhumash, whose assets are essentially comparable.

Five businessmen each gained one position: Aidan Suleimenova (9th place, owns stakes in the Keruen, KeruenCity and Talan Gallery shopping and entertainment centers), Sandugash Kemelbayeva (14th place, owns the Almaty Residence business center and the Samal Mall multifunctional complex), Armanzhan Baitasov (17th place, stakes in various business centers in Almaty), Abylai Zhumadillayev (18th place, stakes in the Globus multifunctional complex and the Standart business center in Almaty) and Aidyn Rakhimbayev (19th place, stakes in the Green Tower business center and the Avataria business center in Astana).

The most notable leap was made by the Sarsenov family, which rose two places to 11th (owns the Astanalyk business center and the Alma-Ata shopping and entertainment complex). Conversely, Sagiyatulla Sarsenov (owner of the TSUM shopping and entertainment center) lost three positions at once, dropping to 20th place.

Four participants each lost one place: Gabit Beisenbayev (10th place, Grand Park shopping and entertainment complex, Zolotoy shopping center, a stake in the Armada shopping center in Almaty), Alexei Nefedov (12th place, Asia Park and Mart shopping and entertainment centers, Mart Village shopping and financial center), Saule Akhmetova (13th place, two business centers in Almaty) and Alexander Chukreyev (15th place, ADK shopping and entertainment center).

Financial indicators

According to Forbes, the combined annual revenue of the twenty ranking participants reached 249.8 billion tenge. The lion's share of income was generated by shopping and entertainment centers, which brought in 184.6 billion tenge (73.9% of the total). Business centers provided the remaining 65.2 billion tenge (26.1%).

The portfolios of the 20 largest rentiers contain 72 commercial real estate properties with a total area of 1.5 million square meters (1,508.8 thousand sq. m). By number of buildings, offices predominate: business centers account for 39 properties (54.2%), while shopping complexes account for 33 properties (45.8%). However, by square meters, retail real estate holds an overwhelming advantage: shopping centers and shopping and entertainment centers account for 1.14 million sq. m (75.4%), while business centers account for 371 thousand sq. m (24.6%).

On average in 2025, one shopping and entertainment center or shopping center brought its owners 6.3 billion tenge, while the average income of one business center was 1.8 billion tenge.

Geographic concentration

The assets of the list's participants are concentrated in three Kazakh megacities, with Almaty dominating.

The Almaty market concentrates 46 rentier properties (63.9%) with a total area of 1.1 million sq. m (73.23%). They brought their owners 169.1 billion tenge in revenue, which is 67.7% of the total income of the ranking participants. On average, one property in Almaty earns 4.1 billion tenge per year.

Astana ranks second with 24 properties (33.3%) covering 372.5 thousand sq. m (24.7%). The capital's centers generated 73.8 billion tenge (29.5% of total revenue), showing an average income of 3.3 billion tenge per property per year.

Shymkent accounts for 2 properties (2.8%) with an area of 31.4 thousand sq. m (2.1%). They earned 6.9 billion tenge (2.8%), showing average revenue of 3.5 billion tenge per property.