Mortgages for housing construction have fallen almost fivefold

In June, mortgages for individual housing construction (IHS) decreased to 12 thousand loans, which is almost five times less than last year's level, when about 60 thousand loans were issued. Lending volumes have more than tripled, to 47 billion rubles, according to the Central Bank.

Let's go all in: the authorities are preparing measures to support housing demand

Easing the credit policy may increase the issuance of preferential mortgages by 15%, but jeopardizes the strength of the financial system.

Large banks and services confirm a drop in demand for residential housing. Sberbank, VTB and Sovcombank note that the main support factor remains the family mortgage. Experts attribute the reduction in disbursements to changes in the conditions of state support for the housing market. In the second quarter of 2024, about 60% of such loans were issued under a preferential mortgage program at 7%, available to all citizens. Its completion since July last year has sharply reduced the volume of disbursements, recalls Anna Zemlyanova, chief analyst at Sovcombank.

On March 1, 2025, escrow accounts began to be used for residential housing transactions, which also affected the market. According to Regina Dydalina, executive director of the federal company "Floors", this scheme is designed to protect citizens' funds and has been in effect for a long time when buying apartments in new buildings.

However, as noted by Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Finance Global, the innovation has drawbacks: borrowers can no longer directly manage credit funds and build houses on their own, but must work through accredited developers. This reduces flexibility and makes customers dependent on developers.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Home building: Russians have almost stopped building housing with a mortgage