| The government is trying to build banks for the people's business The White House did not wait for the group led by presidential aide Igor Shuvalov to formulate national interests in the development of mortgages. The government believes that the strategic interest is obvious: mortgages should be developed, but questions of a tactical nature require answers. “The problem is not a lack of financing, since banking institutions have money. We need to understand why financial institutions do not give loans to people in such a situation. It is necessary to find out what legal or economic aspects prevent the use of the mortgage lending system on a full scale,” Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov formulated the task at yesterday’s cabinet meeting. The White House notes that it was not easy to discuss the problem in this form. It is known that Deputy Prime Ministers Alexei Kudrin and Galina Karelova tried not to raise this issue before the presidential elections - supposedly to make it more convenient for the president. However, Mr. Kasyanov considered that there was no point in postponing social reforms to a distant post-election box. How not to sacrifice the content of actions to create a mortgage system in favor of election PR.
At the cabinet meeting, no one proposed any clear scheme for reducing the cost of housing loans. Mr. Kasyanov asked the head of Gosstroy, Nikolai Koshman, what prevents ordinary citizens, who have money and a legal job, from getting an affordable mortgage loan. Mr. Koshman thought for a long time. And only the second time he answered. He is deeply convinced that the reasons for the “underdevelopment” of the domestic mortgage lending market lie in the narrowness of the housing market. Then, however, Mr. Koshman came to his senses and enthusiastically sang the praises of the emerging mortgage lending in Sberbank, Delta and Vneshtorgbank. “There is a lively interest,” he assured the prime minister.
The Prime Minister instructed Gosstroy to hold a meeting with five or six Russian banks to develop a program for the transition from “short” to “long” mortgage loans. However, this problem can be solved with the help of the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending created by the government (it buys the rights to issued mortgage loans from banks on fairly attractive terms). Mr. Koshman has other concerns. “One of the main problems is that the housing market today is focused on expensive housing, we will work on what approach needs to be developed to increase the construction of housing targeted at the middle class,” the head of Gosstroy told reporters. Vera KUZNETSOVA, Ivan GORDEEV |
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