Page 48 - RusRPTJul22

becoming unaffordable, President Vladimir Putin said on June 21 during a meeting of the State Council’s Presidium.
As of the middle of June the average market mortgage rate was over 14%, although in April mortgage provision fell by two thirds y/y partly due the high prime rates.
“During the recent St. Petersburg economic forum, I asked the government to consider reducing the interest rate on the preferential mortgage loans to 7% from 9%. I request that the government work together with the Bank of Russia, the entire banking community, and the construction industry in order to implement the measure swiftly,” Putin said.
Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said that more than RUB76 trillion of non-budget investment is necessary for construction of 1bn square meters of housing until 2030.
The residential estate industry’s demand for construction materials in the next seven years stands at RUB80 trillion rubles, and Russia has to ensure production and imports substitution that covers the demand.
Under the strategy, around 260,000 kilometers of public utility networks are to be maintained and repaired, Khusnullin added.
In 2022, Russia should prepare city-planning decisions for building of 400mn square meters of residential estate, he said.
He also suggested that the government should discuss the idea of allowing developers to partially open their escrow accounts with banks and receive money from the accounts before they obtain a commissioning permit, which may speed up residential estate projects by up to two months.
The government’s goal for 2022 is to maintain the portfolio of mortgage loans at least flat on the year as compared with RUB2.5 trillion rubles issued in 2021, Khusnullin said.
The authorities also should approve a 5-year construction plan in 2022 and tie it to the transport goals. The baseline amount of federal financing should reach 1.1 trillion rubles. Introduction of a support mechanism for the secondary housing market is also worth discussing, he said.
2.16 Russia’s energy superpower days are over
Russia’s energy bridge to Europe survived the Cold War but has now been destroyed. Moscow will try looking east to recoup its losses but has little prospect of doing so.
48 RUSSIA Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com