According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, there are currently no signs of a bubble in the country's mortgage market.

This was announced on Tuesday, December 8, by the deputy head of the department Alexei Moiseev at a conference of the Analytical Credit Rating Agency (ACRA).

“I hope we are still far from bubbles.

Although the numbers show that everything is growing well.

But I don't see any bubbles.

We are just starting from such a low base that it seems to me that we still have time to grow normally, ”the Deputy Minister quoted TASS as saying.

According to DOM.RF, from January to October 2020, Russian banks issued more than 1.3 million loans in the amount of 3.2-3.3 trillion rubles.

At the same time, according to the organization, by the end of the whole year in Russia will be issued over 1.6 million mortgage loans for 3.8-4 trillion rubles.

The value will become the highest ever observed.

However, the record growth in housing lending should not lead to overheating of the mortgage market due to the balanced policy of the Central Bank.

This point of view in a conversation with RT was expressed by Pavel Sigal, the first vice president of the all-Russian public organization for small and medium-sized businesses "Support of Russia".

According to him, the Central Bank monitors the quality of the mortgage portfolio of Russian banks, which reduces the risk of a bubble in the industry.

“Financial structures with the participation of the Central Bank carefully assess the level of the client's debt, his ability to repay the loan and the overall financial well-being.

This allows you to weed out unreliable borrowers.

Moreover, the stability of the sector is favored by a rather high size of the initial payment, which is 20% for the usual category of loans and 15% for the concessional mortgage program at 6.5%, ”the expert emphasized.

Recall that in April, Russians were given the opportunity to obtain a mortgage loan at a preferential rate of 6.5% per annum until November 1, 2020.

Later, the government extended the initiative until July 1, 2021.

Under the terms of the program, you can get a loan at a reduced rate when you buy apartments worth up to 12 million rubles in the Moscow and St. Petersburg agglomerations, as well as up to 6 million rubles in other regions of the country.

As Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said earlier, at present, concessional loans account for about 80-90% of all housing loans issued in the country for the purchase of apartments in new buildings.

At the same time, the program has led to a noticeable decrease in the average mortgage rate in Russia - to 7.3% per annum.

Moreover, according to Khusnullin, the government admits a decrease in the indicator to 4-5% in the long term.

Experts believe that the further dynamics of mortgage rates will largely depend on the policy of the Central Bank.

Traditionally, banks monitor changes in the Central Bank's key rate and, on the basis of decisions made by the regulator, independently determine the level of long-term lending rates, including mortgage rates.

In July, the Bank of Russia lowered its key rate to the minimum for the entire post-Soviet period (4.25% per annum) and has kept it at this level ever since.

“Now the regulator still has room for maneuver, so the Central Bank may lower the key rate below 4.25% even if inflation risks remain moderate.

In this case, mortgage rates can also be reduced to 5-6% per annum.

This will increase the demand for real estate, "said Artyom Tuzov, executive director of the capital market department at Univer Capital, to RT.

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Meanwhile, the recent high demand in the Russian real estate market has led to an increase in the cost per square meter in the country.

This was announced on Tuesday by the chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina at a meeting of the Council for the Development of the Financial Market under the Federation Council.

“The government's preferential mortgage program played a very important role in preventing the market from failing during the crisis periods.

But we see that the demand for mortgages is already beginning to acquire somewhere the features of a rush demand and leads to an unjustified rise in prices in a number of regions, ”the head of the Central Bank emphasized.

As Alexei Moiseev noted, real estate prices rose most noticeably in the Far East region, where there is a special lending program at 2%.

According to the Deputy Minister, in some cities of the subject, especially in Vladivostok, the rise in housing prices reaches or even exceeds 30%.

In Russia as a whole, since the beginning of 2020, the cost of apartments has increased by about 8-12%.

The vice-president of the International Academy of Mortgage and Real Estate Irina Radchenko told RT about this.

However, prices began to stabilize in the fall, the expert noted.

“The stabilization of prices is associated with the emergence of a large number of properties and the gradual weakening of the excitement caused by record low rates.

Next year, prices are likely to remain close to their current values.

This is partly due to low rates on bank deposits, which stimulate Russians to invest their savings in real estate, ”concluded Radchenko.