RBC: banks proposed to introduce minimum mortgage rates from developers

Banks offered the Central Bank options for regulating mortgages at low rates from developers. This was reported RBC with reference to a letter from the Association of Banks of Russia (ADB). The ADB believes that the restrictions on such mortgages proposed by the Central Bank are excessive and create an unnecessary burden on the capital of banks.

As follows from the letter, Russian banks have proposed four mechanisms for calculating the minimum rate on mortgages from developers:

• Not less than two-thirds of the base rate for preferential mortgage programs or the minimum cost of a loan.
• The difference between rates on market or subsidized mortgages and from the developer can be no more than one third of the key rate of the Central Bank on the day the mortgage agreement is concluded.
• The difference between the key rate and the program from the developer can be no more than 3 p.p.
• Not less than 4%.

According to the ADB, mortgage rates from developers can be set after appropriate recommendations from the Central Bank. ADB has also proposed imposing “prohibitively high risk weights or premiums (eg 300%)” on new loans below the threshold.

In 2022, banks began to actively offer mortgages to customers at ultra-low rates from the developer. As a result, according to the Central Bank, by the beginning of summer, about two-thirds of loans for apartments in new buildings were issued at ultra-low rates. To secure loans, the developer, as a rule, compensates the bank for the difference between the “quasi-privileged” rate, and its costs are included in the cost of apartments. According to the Central Bank, because of this, the cost of apartments is distorted.

About mortgages in Russia – in the material “Kommersant” “Preferential mortgage shredded”.

Olesya Pavlenko