UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 12, 2020. 43,700 mortgages (total amount: RUB 89.8bn) got issued to Sverdlovsk Region-based applicants in 2019, press service at the Bank of Russia’s Ural division reports.

The annual interest rate came to 8.96% on average in December 2019, which was below Russia’s average (9%), Ural Federal District’s average (9.07%), and Sverdlovsk Region’s average for December 2018 (9.68%).

‘The share of mortgages issued for shared-equity housing construction projects soared last year and rose to as much as 31% of all mortgages issued in Sverdlovsk Region. These mortgages amounted to RUB 27.9bn all in all in 2019, making Sverdlovsk Region Russia’s fifth largest shared-equity housing construction mortgage market’, the press service says.

‘Shared-equity housing construction projects remain vital to the growth of Sverdlovsk Region’s mortgage market. It is therefore essential that project financing involving escrow accounts goes through smoothly. As of early 2020, Sverdlovsk Region is Ural Federal District’s No.1 constituency both in terms of the number of project financing contracts signed by banks and housing developers and in terms of the amount of money these contracts involve (close to RUB 20bn). We hope this will lay a good foundation for mortgage market growth in the year 2020,’ says Head of the Bank of Russia’s Ural division Rustem Mardanov.