A thousand times say "mortgage"

Audit Office, tax cuts and foreign investors will help curb the development of prices of mortgage lending has led to the demand for housing grows much more than a proposal that gives rise to "skew" the real estate market, said yesterday at a press conference, Vice President of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia, Alexander Khandruyev. Successful implementation of the national project "Affordable Housing" interfere with insufficient pace of housing construction, said Alexander Khandruyev: "Around the world many builders to build profitable and sell relatively cheaply, and we have builders build profitable enough to sell and very expensive." As a result, demand exceeds supply, and price per square meter rising to the heavens. Over two years of the mortgage market in Russia grew very little, and today is no more than 0.3 percent of GDP. For comparison, in Europe, the volume of mortgage loans is 70 per cent of GDP, while in the U.S. - 50 percent. However, analysts predict the association until the end of 2006 will be given another 108 - 110 billion of mortgage loans, but not enough. Meanwhile, mortgage development is "a reflection of maturity of the state system and legislation of the country," says Khandruyev. According to him, serious problems hindering the development of mortgage lending in Russia, are insufficient in the bankers 'long' cheap money to make loans refinancing, and inadequate system domestic credit institutions by the Central Bank. Therefore, the mortgages are now in the main deposits of citizens and enterprises, and equity capital of banks. According to the association's own funds for credit use 91 percent of large - with a capital of 30 million euros - Russian credit organizations. Rarely are used to finance mortgage loans to Russian and foreign banks. In addition, continue to remain high and market risks of the banking business. In this regard, a significant proportion of loans granted for purchase of ready housing on the secondary market as less "risky" compared with those under construction. Yet lending is carried out more than half the buildings of Russian banks. Are of great importance, and "inflation" risks. Agree to give a mortgage for a period of 20-25 years at current annual rate of inflation to 10-11 percent for bankers is very risky. Hence the high interest rates on mortgages, reaching 15-18 percent per annum. However, the main cause of making the mortgage is not available for most of the population of Russia is the rise in house prices. To solve the problem of prices, according to bankers can be achieved through greater state control of development companies and, on the other hand, granting tax breaks and subsidies. It is also necessary to involve the Russian housing market of foreign investors, with their huge resources. Meanwhile, some analysts believe that the increase in new housing will not solve the problem of prices. All housing under construction "digest" market, where swirling oil revenues are invested in empty apartments. A mortgage will remain inaccessible to ordinary citizens, and bankers and will continue to develop its "demand". Recall that the Prosecutor General's Office and the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) is seriously preoccupied by the situation in the housing market and found that the price per square meter property is overstated by more than half. And now they are checking for a monopoly collusion developers. But experts believe that the reason for unreasonably high prices to look elsewhere - among brokers the sale of housing on the market. It is not the same developers came up with a situation where the agencies in the price one-room apartment with a two-room nearly matched. Meanwhile, most bankers association of the study believe that housing prices in the near future will not be able to stop. And government support for mortgage lending through HMLA only plays into the hands of speculators, brokers, setting the stage for higher prices.