Izvestia: the government intends to launch the Arctic mortgage

Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev instructed the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry for the Development of the Far East to launch a program of preferential mortgages in the regions of the Arctic zone, writes Izvestia newspaper with reference to the document.

This zone includes the Murmansk Region, the Nenets, Chukotka and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs, the Republics of Karelia, Komi, Yakutia, the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Arkhangelsk Region. It is proposed to extend the effect of the Far Eastern mortgage at 2% to these regions. This proposal was made earlier by the governor of the Arkhangelsk region, Alexander Tsybulsky, recalls the publication. In a commentary to the publication, the head of the region stressed that the introduction of such a program would reduce the outflow of population from the regions of the Arctic.

Vladimir Koshelev, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Public Utilities, in turn noted that in Russia over 600 cities have almost zero housing commissioning – mainly the cities of the Arctic region.

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry for the Development of the Far East must prepare their proposals for the launch of the Arctic Mortgage project by May 12, the newspaper notes.

The Far Eastern Mortgage program was launched in Russia in 2019. The main goal is to improve housing conditions in the Far Eastern Federal District and develop the local construction market. In December 2022, the program with a preferential rate of 2% was extended until the end of 2030.

In mid-April Trutnev saidthat the distribution of the Far Eastern mortgage to the Arctic zone will require 4 billion rubles. from the federal budget.

There are several more targeted state mortgage programs in Russia: preferential for new buildings (8% per annum, extended until July 1, 2024), family (6%), for IT specialists (5%) and rural (3%).

Formerly analysts VTB reported an increase in the average mortgage rate in Russia by 1.65 percentage points to 8.3%. According to the bank’s analysts, the rate in the primary market is significantly lower due to state subsidies and the implementation of developers’ programs, in March it amounted to 5.5 – 5.7%. In the secondary market, the figure reached 10.3% in March.

At the end of April, Elvira Nabiullina, Chairman of the Bank of Russia spoke for the distribution of targeted mortgages for secondary housing. On April 20, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Marat Khusnullin said that the introduction of incentives for the purchase of housing in the secondary market would require a large amount of funds from the state. According to him, the reduction of the key rate following the inflation slowdown could play a key role in this issue.