Family mortgage in Tatarstan may be expand to 262k families
They want to include parents with one child in the program, which will lead to a new surge in the housing market
In Tatarstan, a quarter of all families, or over 262,000, will have the opportunity to apply for the extended family mortgage, Realnoe Vremya found out. So many married couples and single parents in the republic raise one child under the age of 18 — by this criterion, all of them can potentially become participants in the updated program. The Russian government is studying how effective the introduction of this support measure will be. Experts believe that every third family in the republic will try to take advantage of the benefit, which will significantly shake up the real estate market.
Will the family mortgage be expanded?
By March 25, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Construction and the main operator of preferential government programs Dom.RF needs to “further work out” the extension of family mortgages to families with one child under the age of 18, study the “effects of the implementation of this measure” and formulate specific proposals on the topic for the government. The corresponding instruction was given following a meeting in the Russian government with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Today, a family with at least one child under the age of 6, inclusive, can apply for a family mortgage at 6%, that is, until he or she turns 7; or a family with a disabled child of any age until he or she reaches 18; parents who want to buy a new building in small towns of up to 50,000 people (except for the Moscow and Leningrad regions) and having two minor children between the ages of 7 and 18; planning to buy housing in regions with low construction volume or in regions with individual development programs, and having two minor children between the ages of 7 and 18.
Parents of adopted children who meet these conditions can also receive a preferential loan. The age of the child or the number of children of a suitable age must comply with the terms of the program at the time of the mortgage transaction. At the same time, the marital status of applicants is not specified in the terms of the program, that is, both a single parent and an unmarried couple can receive a preferential loan. But there is an important condition — the borrower and his children must be citizens of Russia.
Right to participate in the program for a quarter of a million families in Tatarstan
The family mortgage program is valid until the end of 2030. The initial payment is from 20%, but the terms may vary from bank to bank. To approve a loan, parents must meet a number of other requirements: the minimum age is from 18 years old, and the maximum age at the repayment date is from 60 to 75 years old. The last job experience is at least 3 months, you also need to have a steady income and a good credit rating.
If the program is expanded to include families with one child under the age of 18, up to a quarter of all families in Tatarstan will be able to potentially apply for a preferential mortgage loan. Currently, according to the latest census data, 1,045,742 families live in the republic. Of these, there are 132,929 married couples with one child. But since single parents can also apply for a family mortgage, another 102,361 single mothers with one child and 26,859 single fathers with one child should be added here. In total, it turns out that 262,149 Tatarstan families will additionally have the right to the updated family mortgage. Judging by the number of people living in them, 707,931 people could potentially improve their living conditions.
Of course, not all of them need to buy a home or have the opportunity to do so. Nevertheless, there will be quite a lot of citizens in Tatarstan who will not fail to take advantage of this right, experts are sure. According to them, this will lead to a new surge in the housing market, will help increase demand and support the construction industry.
According to him, this proposal certainly deserves the most serious consideration, but it is far from the only idea to support the industry. “Now, among the approaches we are considering, we can immediately recall: expanding the categories of citizens eligible for preferential mortgages, for example, among defence industry workers or industrial enterprises in general, increasing credit limits for large cities, extending government support programs to secondary housing, increasing the amount of tax deduction, as well as the development of rental housing. And that's not all, either, there are other non-financial support measures that, if taken, will eventually make housing more affordable," the deputy said.
“Each of these ideas deserves attention and discussion, but before making a final decision, it is important to carefully weigh and evaluate all the consequences," the source added.
“Every third family will try to take out a family mortgage”
Despite that the Russian government is still only exploring the possibility of expanding family mortgages, market participants tend to believe that this will actually happen.
As for the potential range of borrowers, the speaker believes that many families will want to take advantage of the benefit. However, there is a limitation — starting from December 23, 2023, preferential mortgages are given only in one hand and only once. If the loan was issued before that moment, it will not be counted and parents will have the opportunity to apply for a new preferential loan.
“Every third family that did not participate in the program will try to take out a family mortgage. Someone will take it for investment, someone to support their child who turns 18 soon, to throw him out of the parental nest into a free life. It is strange that families with children under 6 years old were chosen for the program earlier. In fact, there is a big problem — young people cannot get married, just because they have nowhere to live. In order to have a child and raise up to 6 years old, you first need to live somewhere, and preferably not with your parents," said Gizatova.
“If there is a surge, developers will adjust the cost of apartments”
Updating the family mortgage program will significantly expand the range of borrowers, but an increase in demand for new buildings will naturally be followed by an increase in housing prices. Experts believe that interest in the program will multiply: in Russia, about half of families have one child, and all of them can become potential participants in the program.
In the republic, according to official data (Tatarstanstat), the cost per square metre in the primary real estate market reached 175,800 rubles at the end of 2024, which is by 27% more than at the end of 2023 (138,300 rubles). In Kazan, according to aggregators, housing is even more expensive, the price of a square metre has exceeded 200,000 rubles and is equal to Moscow projects. At the same time, despite a decline in sales, new buildings are not getting cheaper. One of the reasons is that the cost of housing construction is increasing. An updated family mortgage can cause a new round of price appreciation.
“If there is a surge, developers will take advantage of it anyway and adjust the cost of apartments that will be most in demand. If there is a long queue for some lot and everyone wants to buy for 10 million rubles, it is logical that this apartment will cost 11 million. It's just that in this case, this should not lead to an explosive increase in prices, as before, when preferential mortgages were just introduced. Now the categories of participants are regulated, and this is not such a massive mortgage, a lot of people have already used it," Anastasia Gizatova said.
