Russians began to take out expensive mortgages due to record housing discounts

The record level of bidding for the sale of ready-made housing in Russia makes it possible to significantly reduce overpayments on market mortgages. This was reported to Izvestia on November 16 by the federal company Floors.

"Most buyers are now trying to find options for secondary apartments where the owners are interested in an urgent sale and are willing to make a discount of 10% or more, which significantly reduces both monthly mortgage payments and the total overpayment," said Regina Dydalina, executive director of the federal company Floors.

According to her, with a rate of 18.99%, a down payment of 60% and a loan term of 20 years, a discount of 15% of the market value of the apartment reduces monthly payments and mortgage overpayments to levels commensurate with the mortgage rate of 10.7%, and if such a loan can be refinanced after a year at 14%, this It will allow to reduce the overpayment for the entire loan term by another 1.4 times. Even a discount of 5% of the market price of an apartment reduces monthly mortgage payments by 12.5%.

"At the same time, the average level of bidding for the sale of ready—made housing in Russia remains at record levels and exceeds 6-6.4%," added Dydalina.

According to Etagi mortgage experts, Samara currently has the largest share of market mortgage applications among Russian megacities (52%), St. Petersburg is in second place (50.7%), Moscow is in third (45%), Yekaterinburg is in fourth (43.8%) and closes the top five. Krasnoyarsk (43.6%). Kazan (42.6%), Omsk (40.5%), Chelyabinsk (37.4%), Ufa (37%) and Nizhny Novgorod (35%) are also among the top ten in terms of the share of applications for market mortgages. The smallest share of applications for market mortgages in November was recorded in Rostov-on-Don — only 18.1%.

"The period of dominance of preferential mortgage programs in the real estate market is gradually ending. Next year, the share of housing loans on the market will continue to grow both against the background of new restrictions on family mortgages from February 1, 2026, and expectations of a further reduction in the Central Bank's key rate. It cannot be ruled out that next year the share of standard mortgages in the total volume of applications may exceed 60%," the expert concluded.

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The day before, Yulia Arkhangelskaya, head of the commercial services department at the Mangazeya development company, said that banks had relaxed their requirements for mortgage borrowers — the share of approved applications had increased by 30-35% since the beginning of the year. According to her, when applying, banks carefully analyze the client's credit history, especially applications to microfinance organizations and frequent consumer loans.

Prior to that, on November 13, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced that a massive mortgage in Russia is possible at a key rate of 5-6%. However, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that even at the current rate level, which the Central Bank of Russia lowered to 16.5%, the dynamics in the housing market is becoming positive. According to Khusnullin, a market mortgage is starting to appear, the share of which was only 18% last year.

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