UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2020. As of February 1, 2020, a Sverdlovsk Region-based household needs a monthly income of more than RUB 62,000 in order to afford a mortgage, the National Credit History Bureau’s research findings indicate.

This is 6.2% less than six months earlier: as of August 1, 2019, the recommended monthly income was RUB 66,760.

In Russia on the whole, the average figures dropped by 6.6% in the last six months and came to RUB 70,700 a month.

‘In the last six months, the average monthly income a Russian family needs in order to pay off a mortgage comfortably has gone down a bit. Given a slight increase in the average repayment period and mortgage amount, mortgages became more affordable mostly because of the interest rate declining in the second half of 2019. Still, despite the lower interest rates, what the borrowers need to keep in mind is that a mortgage stands for a very long-term financial commitment and means many years of directing a significant part of family income to loan servicing and the paying out of the principal loan amount,’ says the National Credit History Bureau’s Director Alexander Vikulin.