The age threshold for preferential IT mortgages will be lowered from 22 to 18 years

The government has expanded measures to support IT professionals. From now on, preferential mortgage terms will be available to employees of IT companies accredited by the Ministry of Digital Development at the age of 18. Wage requirements will also be reduced, and income will be taken into account not only from the main place of work, but also part-time. This was announced by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at an operational meeting with Deputy Prime Ministers on January 30, 2023.

The preferential mortgage program for IT specialists in accordance with the presidential decree has been in effect since July 2022. The rate for employees of Russian companies accredited in the register of the Ministry of Digital Development is up to 5% per annum with a down payment of 15%. At the same time, the maximum amount of a state-subsidized loan for residents of million-plus regions is 18 million rubles, for the rest – 9 million rubles.

In accordance with the initial conditions of the program, specialists aged 22 to 44 could apply for preferential terms on a loan. Now – from 18 to 50 years (inclusive). The corresponding order is posted on the website of the Cabinet. The minimum salary for obtaining a housing loan in million-plus cities is reduced from 150,000 to 120,000 rubles. per month (before deducting personal income tax) and from 100,000 to 70,000 rubles. in other settlements. The requirements for specialists working in Moscow remain the same – 150,000 rubles. per month.

Now the minimum wage can be calculated not for one main place of employment, but in conjunction with part-time work. But the company in which the employee is employed part-time must also be in the register of accredited IT companies.

Another important change concerns the terms of repayment of preferential loans. In order not to lose a favorable rate, after receiving a mortgage, a specialist needs to be employed in an accredited company for at least five years, and not the entire loan repayment period. If an employee quits early, the preferential rate will be valid for him for another six months.

Employees of all accredited IT companies, of which there are about 20,000 in Russia now, will be able to get a mortgage, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko emphasized. As a result of the program, more than 50,000 IT professionals will be able to improve their living conditions, he noted. This is a change in terms of requirements for the companies themselves: previously, only employees of accredited IT companies that had previously received income tax and insurance premium benefits, as well as integrators and backbone organizations, could apply for benefits.

“The total amount of loans issued will, according to our estimates, be about 240 billion rubles,” Chernyshenko added. Since the start of the program in 2022, the authorities have approved almost 17,000 applications and issued 6,000 housing loans worth more than 54 billion rubles.

The amendments announced today will allow novice developers, whose income is often below the minimum wage requirement of 150,000 rubles, to qualify for benefits. before the deduction of personal income tax, says Pavel Kalyakin, CEO of Moiofis. The new threshold reflects the real income level of programmers, including those with little experience, he says.

But for the segment of specialists in the field of system development or narrow specializations that require high qualifications, lowering the salary threshold is an ineffective tool, Ksenia Zamukhovskaya, HR Director at HRD Postgres Professional, believes. “The salaries of such specialists make it easy to get a mortgage at market rates, so if they want to leave the country, they are unlikely to be stopped by lower interest rates. Rather, they can be additionally motivated by a reservation from the service or tax holidays, ”she believes.

Another important point of the amendments concerns the seniority of specialists, continues Kalyakin. “It was rather difficult for many specialists to decide on a loan that obliged them to work in IT for at least another two decades. Five years is the real horizon of a person’s career planning,” the expert argues. In addition, it is important that the change in the terms of seniority applies to those who took out a mortgage before the adoption of the current amendments, he points out.

The easing of wage requirements will simplify the process of obtaining a mortgage and, as a result, will keep a number of specialists in the country, believes Victoria Pluzhnikova, head of the employer brand promotion department at Auriga IT company. But the industry still has an unresolved issue of obtaining soft loans for secondary housing, as well as refinancing existing loans, she notes. There are still no such options available.

Despite the fact that mortgage benefits have now been provided to employees of all accredited IT companies, nevertheless, support measures do not apply to all IT specialists, Moscow Digital School expert Irina Abdeeva draws attention. In order not to lose IT specialists employed at work in other sectors of the economy, it is also necessary to think over a mechanism for their retention, the lawyer says.

Another powerful tool for retaining IT specialists in the country can be the legislative consolidation of official armor for IT specialists at the level of a presidential decree or federal law, and it is also necessary to provide for the provision of a confirming document about the reservation – a certificate “On deferment from military service for mobilization and military time,” continues Renat Lashin, executive director of the Association of Software Developers “Domestic Soft”.