Impenetrable mortgage

Vladimir Putin calculated how many Russians can buy housing on credit

Only every tenth Russian can purchase housing with a mortgage. At the same time, about 2 million families live in dilapidated or dilapidated houses. Such data were presented by President Vladimir Putin, speaking on Friday at a meeting of the Presidium of the State Council in Kazan. In his opinion, the problem of affordable housing can be solved through the development of classic mortgages and other forms of lending “targeted at citizens with low incomes.” At the same time, bankers believe that the main factors of affordability are housing prices, which are at a high level, and most importantly, the income of the population, which does not correspond to this level.

“The issue of providing housing for low-income people is very important. A lot is changing, changing for the better, but there is a large category of citizens who do not yet feel these changes. And mainly the problems lie in the housing sector,” said the head of state, opening the meeting. According to him, housing and utilities should become truly affordable for people. He noted that the measures taken within the framework of the national project “Affordable Housing” made it possible to reduce rates on mortgage loans, the number of which increased significantly last year.

The minimum rate on mortgage loans issued according to AHML standards since October last year has decreased to 11% per annum. As of January 1, 2007, the agency refinanced 39,214 thousand mortgages for a total amount of 27.05 billion rubles.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Regional Development, the average price per square meter of housing in Russia on the secondary market is 32.3 thousand rubles, on the primary market - 33.3 thousand. The largest increase in prices last year - by 46% - recorded in the capital. As of October 1, 2006, a meter of housing in the capital cost 84.9 thousand rubles. in the primary market and 93.5 thousand rubles. - on the secondary. Mortgage bankers point out that it is the cost of real estate, and not interest rates on loans, that makes it unaffordable for the public.

With low mortgage rates, housing will not become fundamentally more affordable for Russians, believes Igor Zhigunov, head of the sales department of the City Mortgage Bank. “In banking practice, there is a housing affordability index. In our country it is 12-13. That is, for 13 annual income a person can buy an apartment. This is a very large number, the index should be at the level of 7-8. For example, in London, where housing costs are very high, this figure is 7.”

One way to solve the problem is to make sure that real estate in Russia is no longer perceived as a way to make money, believes First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who oversees the implementation of national projects. “At some point, residential real estate also turned into a means of savings, becoming a financial instrument that allows you not only to protect yourself from inflation, but also to earn a decent profit. Therefore, the task of state and cooperative institutions is to ensure that other working instruments of accumulation, such as securities, appear and are presented on the market. Of course, this is not easy, but it must be done,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

Another way to increase the affordability of housing for the population, according to the head of state, is to develop the so-called social mortgage, which provides for subsidizing the down payment, a flexible interest rate, and a long loan term. Such a program already exists in Tatarstan. And residents of Omsk and the region have been exempt from paying interest on mortgage loans issued to them since the beginning of this year. This was undertaken by the regional budget as part of the regional program of state support for mortgage lending. First of all, public sector employees will be able to receive interest-free loans. Previously, the region had a law “On State Support for Housing Mortgage Lending in the Omsk Region,” according to which the rate on loans provided by local authorities was 10%, and then decreased to 8%.

Nikolay KOCHELYAGIN