Car loans in St. Petersburg increased 1.4 times at the beginning of the year

According to the results of the first quarter of 2026, the volume of car loans in St. Petersburg increased 1.4 times compared to the same period last year. According to the NBKI, in January–March, St. Petersburg residents issued car loans for 18.5 billion rubles against 13.5 billion a year earlier. However, experts warn that the market has already begun to cool down, and a noticeable reduction in rates should not be expected before autumn. This was announced on May 21 by the Delovoy Peterburg portal.

The number of loans issued increased by 13%, to an average of 3.4 thousand transactions per month. At the same time, the growth in monetary terms turned out to be significantly higher due to the rise in car prices: the average amount of a car loan in St. Petersburg exceeded 1.81 million rubles. According to monitoring data from Frank RG, the average car loan in the country at the beginning of May amounted to 1,505 million rubles. Demand for used cars remains particularly stable: the average receipt for them increased by 4.7%, while for new cars, on the contrary, decreased.

Despite the market activity at the beginning of the year, April has already shown the first signs of a slowdown. According to the United Credit Bureau (OKB), the number of car loans issued in St. Petersburg decreased by 12% over the month, and the volume of loans issued by 13%. Experts attribute cooling to several factors at once. The main one is the high cost of loans. Now the rates for new cars are at about 25% per annum, for used cars — at about the same level. Cash loans secured by a car are even more expensive — at almost 30% per annum.

Additional pressure on the market was exerted by the new requirements of the Central Bank for the assessment of borrowers. Since the beginning of the year, banks have been required to account exclusively for confirmed official customer incomes through data from the Federal Tax Service and the Social Fund. At the same time, macroprudential limits for borrowers with high debt loads have been tightened. As a result, according to the NBKI, the rejection rate for car loan applications in St. Petersburg reached 72% in March — in fact, banks approve only three out of ten applications.

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Against the background of high interest rates, the average loan term has also increased: now it is 63 months compared to 55 months a year earlier. Under such conditions, the monthly payment for a new car can reach 52 thousand rubles. Taking into account the requirements of the Central Bank, the borrower's comfortable income level should be at least twice as high as this amount.

Other factors are also holding back the market, such as rising car prices, increased recycling fees, and increased logistics costs. This has a particularly noticeable effect on imported cars, the cost of which continues to rise. According to experts, by the end of 2026, the car loan market may show only moderate growth. Autostat allows for an increase in volumes to 1.8 trillion rubles, but some analysts consider the range of 1.3–1.5 trillion rubles to be more realistic.

"By the end of the year, the portfolio of car loans in St. Petersburg will maintain moderate growth, but the dynamics will be restrained. The main constraints will remain the high debt burden of the population and strict requirements for assessing borrowers' solvency," said Evgeny Sheiko, Head of Solid Bank's Product Development, Analytics and Methodology Department.

Experts also expect a gradual reduction in interest rates following the easing of the Central Bank's monetary policy, but the effect will be delayed by several months.

"In the summer of 2026, a further gradual reduction in rates is expected, but a more noticeable reduction in the cost of car loans is possible closer to the end of the year," said Vasily Kutyin, Director of analytics at Ingo Bank.

According to banks, Haval, Lada and Geely cars are currently in the highest demand in St. Petersburg, and the bulk of transactions take place through the used car market and online classifieds.

On April 23, the National Bureau of Credit Histories reported that in March of this year, the average amount of car loans issued was 1.49 million rubles. Compared to the first month of spring last year, this figure increased by 22.3%. The highest average amount of car loans issued among the regions of the Russian Federation in March was recorded in Moscow (2.09 million rubles). Next in the ranking are the Moscow Region (1.83 million rubles), St. Petersburg (1.76 million rubles) and the Leningrad Region (1.61 million rubles), as well as the Krasnodar Territory (1.6 million rubles) and the Tyumen Region with Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (1.60 million rubles).