Alexei Chekunkov, Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic (Minvostokrazvitiya), has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep the mortgage rate for the Far East and the Arctic at 2%.
“We ask you to consider maintaining the mortgage interest rate for the Far East and the Arctic at 2 percent. “They account for only four percent of the total volume of the mortgage program, while living conditions in these regions can be described as difficult,” said Chekunkov.
The Far East mortgage program was initiated in the Russian Federation in 2019 to optimize housing conditions in the Far Eastern Federal District and promote the local construction market. In December 2022, it was decided to extend the program for another eight years with a preferential rate of 2 percent until the end of 2030. In November 2023, the program was extended to the Arctic zone.
In April of this year, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov stated that the Finance Ministry was considering raising the interest rate on mortgages in the Far East. In a statement on July 19, Chebeskov expressed the view that the Finance Ministry might support an increase in the interest rate on mortgages in the Arctic from 2 to 8 percent. The current rate of 2 percent was considered extremely low.
In December 2023, Putin announced that the Far East and Arctic mortgage program would be extended to participants in special operations. In his assessment, the president called the lack of opportunity for soldiers to receive such a favorable loan a technical oversight. At the beginning of February, the president gave the order to extend the Far East and Arctic mortgage to participants in special operations, as well as to the family members of the deceased. The new regulation came into force on June 1 of this year.
