Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that the government promptly respond to the unreasonable rise in housing prices.

According to him, the program of preferential mortgages at 6.5% is working, but the initiative has led to a rise in the cost of real estate in the country.

This state of affairs may devalue the efforts of the authorities to improve the living conditions of Russians, so the Cabinet should consider the problem "in the most careful way."

The head of state announced this on Wednesday, December 23, at a joint meeting of the State Council and the Council for National Projects.

“As soon as all market participants saw that the volume of credit resources was allocated decently, the number of applications was very large, the market reacted accordingly.

And if housing prices continue to rise, then a significant part of our efforts aimed at providing housing for a larger number of citizens, if not reduced to zero, then, in any case, these efforts will seriously suffer, ”Putin explained.

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, it is possible to get a loan at a reduced rate when purchasing 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.

According to the latest estimates by DOM.RF, since the launch of the program, Russian banks have received more than 1 million applications from citizens for mortgages at 6.5% per annum.

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

As the vice president of the International Academy of Mortgage and Real Estate, Irina Radchenko, told RT, since the beginning of 2020, the cost of real estate in Russia on average has increased by 8-12%.

Meanwhile, in some regions, the rise in prices reached 20%, the expert added.

“Several factors contributed to the increase in the cost of square meters.

Thus, against the background of a decrease in interest rates on bank deposits, Russians began to more actively shift their savings into square meters.

In addition, for people who have been preparing for the purchase of real estate for a long time, the introduction of the preferential mortgage program has become a kind of signal to buy a home.

It also influenced the rush demand, ”explained Radchenko.

According to Marat Khusnullin, the rise in prices on the real estate market can be curbed by increasing the supply of housing.

Thus, at the moment, the country needs to increase the volume of construction, the Deputy Prime Minister said at a meeting on Wednesday.

“The key problem is that the price went up where there was not enough housing supply.

This speaks directly to the fact that we must increase the supply.

This is our key task, ”Khusnullin explained.

Vladimir Putin also reminded of the need to resolve the emergency housing situation as soon as possible.

According to the president, the government knows "how to approach this", but this issue should be given special attention.

“This shameful page must be closed, people must be dragged out of the slums, so that new ones do not grow in these slums, so that the volume of emergency housing does not increase,” the Russian leader stressed.

At the same time, according to Marat Khusnullin, at the moment the resettlement of emergency housing in Russia is progressing at a faster pace.

As the Deputy Prime Minister noted, in 2020 the program was almost doubled.

In many ways, this result was achieved due to the allocation of an additional 50 billion rubles.

Planned adjustment

During the meeting, the participants in the meeting discussed the prospects for the implementation of national projects.

As Vladimir Putin noted, the coronavirus epidemic has become a serious test for people, as well as a challenge for the economies and social sphere of almost all states.

At the same time, the President stressed that "all this does not cancel the development agenda."

“For our country, high-quality, continuous movement forward is absolutely strategic, fundamental and vital.

Taking into account all the totality of demographic, geopolitical, economic and technological factors, we cannot afford to stop, ”the head of state said.

  • RIA News

  • © Mikhail Klimentiev

As a reminder, back in May 2018, Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On national goals and strategic objectives for the development of the Russian Federation until 2024".

The document identified 12 national projects ("Healthcare", "Demography", "Science", "Ecology", "Housing and Urban Environment", "Digital Economy", "Labor Productivity and Employment Support", "Small and Medium Enterprises" , "International cooperation and export", "Safe and high-quality roads", "Culture" and "Education"), as well as the Comprehensive plan for the modernization and expansion of the main infrastructure.

At the same time, as a result of the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, in July 2020, the president ordered to adjust national projects and extend their implementation period until 2030.

As part of achieving the goals, it is planned to increase life expectancy, reduce poverty, achieve GDP growth rates above the world average and ensure a sustainable increase in household income.

As Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a meeting on Wednesday, the government has already adjusted national projects in accordance with national development goals.

According to the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, in order to fulfill the assigned tasks, the authorities have developed a detailed plan, which should become "a navigator for the planned activities."

“Serious resources are allocated for the implementation of the plan: in the next three years, more than 39 trillion rubles, or about 13 trillion rubles a year,” Mishustin said.

The prime minister added that the bulk of these funds will be allocated for social programs and economic development.

Thus, the money will go to support Russians through providing employment and income, the Prime Minister is sure.

The implementation of national projects will speed up economic recovery from the consequences of the pandemic, and in the future should ensure sustainable growth.

This point of view in an interview with RT was expressed by Alexey Korenev, an analyst at the Finam Group.

“Construction of roads, investment in agriculture, new scientific developments - all these are serious projects that can help the economy if they are carried out competently and professionally.

The labor market receives an impetus for development through job creation and increased income.

Citizens will be able to spend this money on consumption, which will stimulate production.

That is, it turns out to be a direct chain, ”the analyst said.

At the same time, the allocation of 39 trillion for the implementation of national projects over the next three years will not become burdensome for the country's budget.

Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the Center for Market Research at the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, NRU HSE, told RT about this

.

“The country's reserves and funds from the National Wealth Fund allow us to allocate this amount without much harm to the financial system.

Given the importance of national projects, the complexity of the current situation, we need to make a technological breakthrough and reach more concentrated growth rates.

I believe that in the current conditions this money is quite reasonable, and it is quite possible to get it without reducing the social spending of the budget, ”Ostapkovich said.

Social vector

During the meeting, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said that over the next three to four years Russia will have to update its economic model and achieve GDP growth rates of at least 3% per year.

In turn, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova spoke about the authorities' plans to achieve a significant reduction in poverty in the country.

“By 2030, we need to achieve a halving of poverty by the level of 2017, which means that the number of poor people should decrease by 9.6 million,” Golikova said.

  • RIA News

  • © Alexander Astafiev

In this context, she recalled the change in approaches to setting the level of the living wage and the minimum wage (minimum wage).

The innovations will take effect in 2021.

“The minimum wage from January 1, 2021 will be set at 12,792 rubles, or with an increase of 5.5%.

At the same time, fulfilling the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, for the first time the minimum wage will exceed the subsistence minimum of the able-bodied population.

This increase will affect the incomes of almost 3.9 million of our citizens, ”Golikova added.

According to Georgy Ostapkovich, at the moment 13% of the country's population is below the poverty line, and 25% of children live in families with incomes below the subsistence level.

However, the expert believes that the authorities' initiatives will significantly alleviate the existing problem.

“If the minimum wage exceeds the subsistence minimum, our poverty level will decrease.

Now we have 20 million people considered poor, but by 2030 their number should be reduced to about 10 million. This will affect the growth of well-being and incomes of the poorest Russians, ”concluded Ostapkovich.