In Russia, the volume of preferential mortgage loans is expected to decrease sharply, according to estimates from the Central Bank, representing 87% of the total real estate loans. The statements were made by the directors of VTB and Sberbank, Andrei Kostin and Herman Gref, who promised to waive additional fees for government-supported mortgage loans, after a request from President Vladimir Putin.”We will waive [the fees], but this will lead to a significant decrease in the volume of preferential [mortgage loans],” Gref told Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin. “Simply put, banks cannot provide mortgage loans at a loss, and currently they are unprofitable.” According to him, the additional fees were introduced precisely to prevent a decrease in mortgage lending.Kostin told Zarubin that the banks introduced these fees “not willingly.” According to him, VTB only applied fees to preferential mortgages after “all customers came to us from other banks and we were forced to align with them.”In turn, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov assured that Russian citizens will not have problems obtaining preferential mortgages. “We have increased the subsidized margin, which is now 3% for mortgages intended for families,” he said. The minister promised additional resources for banks to subsidize these loans, especially mortgages for families, and announced that “legislative changes are being prepared.”Read more HERE
