This article studies housing rents in St. Petersburg from 1880 to 1917, covering an eventful period of Russian and world history. Digitizing over 5000 rental advertisements, we construct a state-of-the-art index – the first pre-war and pre-Soviet market data index for any Russian city. In 1915, a rent control and tenant protection policy was introduced in response to soaring prices following the outbreak of WWI. We document official compliance, rising tenure duration, and strongly increased affordability for workers. While the immediate prelude to the October Revolution was indeed characterized by economic turmoil, rent affordability did not dominate.

本文研究了 1880 年至 1917 年圣彼得堡的住房租金，涵盖了俄罗斯和世界历史的重要时期。我们将 5000 多个租赁广告数字化，构建了一个最先进的指数——第一个俄罗斯城市的战前和前苏联市场数据指数。1915 年，为应对第一次世界大战爆发后飙升的价格，引入了租金控制和租户保护政策。我们记录了官方合规性、任期延长以及工人负担能力的大幅提高。虽然十月革命的前奏确实以经济动荡为特征，但租金负担能力并未占主导地位。