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Russian banks to issue at least 1 million mortgage loans in 2014

“It accounts for about a third of all credits issued to the population by banks and about four percent of Russia’s GDP,” the director of the Russian Central Bank’s banking regulation department says

© ITAR-TASS/Mitya Aleshkovsky

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MOSCOW, April 10. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian banks will issue at least one million mortgage loans in 2014, Vasily Pozdyshev, the director of the Russian Central Bank’s banking regulation department, told the Business FM radio station.

In 2013, according to Pozdyshev, Russian banks issued 825.000 mortgage loans.

“Today, Russia’s market of mortgage credits is estimated at 2.7 trillion roubles ($76 billion),” he said. “It accounts for about a third of all credits issued to the population by banks and about four percent of Russia’s GDP.”

The Central Bank officer noted that Russia’s mortgage market was growing rapidly. Growth dynamics in 2013 was 32.6%. “Few segments of the financial market can boast such rapid growth,” he noted, adding that the growth was taking place on despite high real estate prices and high interest rates.

The Russian Central Bank predicts stable demand for mortgage crediting and even does not rule out a further growth in the short-term perspective.

“Geopolitical risks may play in favour of mortgage lending, since it is a products that is linked to real estate,” he noted. “I do not rule out that many people might prefer to convert their savings into an initial payment for real estate, which will entail growing demand for mortgage loans.”

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