Half of Russians believe mortgage rates to rise in 2021

Every fifth (21%) surveyed say s/he has purchased a residential property over the past six months. Almost one third (32%) of them bought an apartment not far from the city center and another third (31%) chose the outskirts. Most often, these were two-room (36%) and one-room flats (29%), less often – three-room ones (19%). As for houses, 43% of the buyers chose houses under construction, 19% bought a flat in a newly commissioned house, 19% bought houses built before 1990.

As few as 21% of the surveyed did without loans, the remaining 79% took out a mortgage. As a matter of curiosity, the interest rates on housing credits varied as follows: 6-7% (36% of respondents), 9-10% (25%) and 8-9% (23%).

The survey also showed how many Russians are thinking over buying a flat (the figure turned out to be 48%). Location-wise, one third of respondents (33%) wanted an area near the city center, 32% considered the outskirts. 29% of respondents preferred to buy flats in a house under construction, 22% – in a fully commissioned block of flats, 20% – in old housed, 20% – in new houses built in the 2000s. Almost two-thirds of the surveyed (68%) would rely on a mortgage, being sure that now they can find offers with attractive interest rates.

The Russians also say they know about easy-term mortgages: 65% of the respondents have heard about this programme. Nevertheless, half of the surveyed (51%) stressed that they expected mortgage rates to increase in 2021.