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- Square measures: the State Duma wants to expand the family mortgage to the "secondary"
Square measures: the State Duma wants to expand the family mortgage to the "secondary"
The State Duma will raise the issue of expanding family mortgages to the entire secondary housing market in the Russian Federation due to complaints from Russians, Izvestia found out. Almost all the Duma factions have taken up the problem. The LDPR will send an appeal to the government, and the Communist Party has also expressed its willingness to discuss this issue with the cabinet. The SR has long been ready to support the expansion of mortgages, and United Russia called for a comprehensive solution, focusing on increasing the availability of family mortgages in the regions. At the same time, experts warn that the inclusion of "secondary housing" in the preferential program may provoke an increase in real estate prices and require a redistribution of budget funds. About why Russians can't buy their own homes and how deputies plan to help them is in the Izvestia article.
Russians ask to expand family mortgage for secondary housing
Today, Russian families can take advantage of a preferential mortgage with a rate of 6% not only when buying new buildings, but also secondary housing. At the same time, it is possible to buy a "secondary" under such conditions only in 901 cities with a low level of housing construction — where no more than two houses are being built. Thus, neither the capital nor the largest densely populated cities with high activity of developers were included in the list.
At the same time, the price difference between new buildings and secondary housing does not allow families to buy an apartment, which they regularly complain to deputies, asking them to solve the problem. Today, the gap in housing prices in the primary and secondary markets is getting wider. In April–June of this year, the average in Russia reached 60%, according to the Central Bank. The average price per square meter in the "primary" for all apartments exceeded 205 thousand rubles, and in the "secondary" amounted to 128 thousand.
In those cities where preferential mortgages do not apply to the secondary market, families face a "crazy 21% rate," which is unbearable not only for large families, but also for any family in Russia, LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky said in a conversation with Izvestia. He said that his party would appeal to the government and propose to expand the family mortgage.
— How will people in the Kirov region, where the average salary is 65 thousand rubles, be able to handle a monthly payment of 90 thousand? No way. We will appeal to the government with a proposal to ease the conditions and multiply expand the list of cities where you can take out a preferential family mortgage for secondary housing, which is often much more affordable for citizens than new buildings, - said Slutsky.
Previously, the deputies were repeatedly approached by families from the regions who are unable to buy housing. For example, Daria, a mother with many children from Kirov, who gave birth to her third child this year, said that she would like to buy an apartment on the secondary market with ready repairs, but could not do so due to high rates.
— If the cost of an apartment in Kirov is 6 million 400 thousand rubles, with an initial payment of about 1.5 million, the interest rate is 21%. And the monthly payment is 90 thousand rubles," the Russian woman complains. — Why can't I, as a mother with many children, buy an apartment on the secondary market on favorable terms? Why can't I choose?
A resident of the Vladimir region wrote that she can only afford secondary housing, provided the rate is 6-10%. However, in her city, the family mortgage does not apply to the "secondary", which is why she and her family have not been able to move out of a two-room apartment in an old house for a long time. "We will never have our own good housing," the woman is indignant.
The authorities decided to limit the expansion of family mortgages to "secondary mortgages" from April 1, 2025, however, as Russian banks later reported, due to the harsh conditions of the program, citizens showed little interest in the innovation. In the spring, the demand for new buildings exceeded the interest in the "secondary" by more than 30 times. At the same time, during the same period, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin spoke about the readiness to expand family mortgages if necessary, but later this topic was not raised.
How do they propose to solve the problem in the State Duma
In addition to the Liberal Democratic Party, Fair Russia also supports the consistent expansion of family mortgages to the secondary market. At its price, the "secondary" is much more affordable and does not require expensive repairs, which is very important for families with children, said Sergei Mironov, leader of the SR.
— I think we need to go further, extend [family mortgages] to all second homes. But I would like to emphasize that any expansion of benefits should be accompanied by control and government regulation of prices. They should not be allowed to "go into space", as happened when launching a large-scale preferential program. It is necessary to limit the growth of prices and margins of developers from the state, " he told Izvestia.
United Russia spoke cautiously about the potential expansion of family mortgages, emphasizing that the problem needs to be addressed comprehensively in order to increase demand for preferential mortgages in the regions. If you look at how a family mortgage works, it becomes obvious that it is mainly used to buy apartments only in four metropolitan regions: Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Moscow Region and the Leningrad Region, Tatyana Butskaya, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, told Izvestia.
— Now they will rethink the approaches and conditions of a family mortgage in order to shift the emphasis from the fact that it is metropolitan and make it more accessible to the region in which the family lives. We see that in the regions they charge less, perhaps due to the fact that there is no "primary", maybe it will be necessary to expand here," said the parliamentarian.
Today, the Ministry of Construction has a separate working group on demography, where these issues are being worked out, so news can be expected soon, she added. Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation to clarify the decisions reached by the working group.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation did not give an unambiguous answer about the party's position on the issue of expanding family mortgages to "secondary" ones. At the same time, the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children is ready to send a request to the government to clarify the situation, Nina Ostanina, the head of the committee, told Izvestia.
— I will not express my opinion now unequivocally in favor of an increase, but to study it and, as a result, apply to the government — I have no doubt that this needs to be done, — said the deputy.
According to a study by the center "Analytics. Business. Pravo", due to low incomes of citizens and high real estate prices, family mortgages remain virtually inaccessible in 41 regions of the Russian Federation.
Will housing prices rise with the expansion of mortgages
The gratuitous expansion of preferential mortgages in the secondary market may face a number of problems. Firstly, the cost of secondary housing, as a rule, restrains the growth of prices for new buildings, Alexander Tsyganov, head of the Department of housing Mortgage lending and financial instruments of the real estate market at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, noted in a conversation with Izvestia. Thus, the expansion of family mortgages can trigger an increase in housing prices in general.
— A person who pays attention to the primary real estate market, new buildings, he still looks at the "secondary", how much it costs. He keeps it in his head whether he can sell this apartment later or not," says the expert.
Secondly, the expansion of mortgages for the "secondary market" may lead to developers losing interest in the area and not building houses there. And this, in turn, can lead to a weakening of competition and an increase in prices for new buildings.
Finally, the expansion of mortgages will clearly require additional costs, according to the director of the Center for Economic Policy Research at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University. Lomonosov Oleg Buklemishev.
— We can argue as much as we like that this is important, useful and necessary, but in order to implement this measure, it will require a redistribution of resources from other government programs, — said the economist.
In the regions, they often cannot buy their own homes for two reasons, explains Alexander Tsyganov: because of low incomes and high housing prices, which is explained by insufficient competition in the developer market.
Today, the Ministry of Finance is considering the possibility for families with one child to raise the rate to 10-12%, with two children — to keep it at 6%, and with three or more — to reduce it to 4%, said Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market. He noted that the deputies continue to discuss the size of the rate for large families. The changes may start working as early as 2026. According to experts, because of this, about 2.7 million families with one child will no longer be able to get a loan at 6% per annum: they will have to purchase housing at a significantly higher percentage.
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