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Arctic Mortgage due to begin within weeks — minister

The Far Eastern Mortgage Program has been operating in Russia since late 2019

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. The preferential mortgage program will begin in the Arctic within coming weeks, Russia's Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunov told RUSSIA EXPO.

"In the near future [the Arctic Mortgage] will be launched. All necessary decisions are in place, the conditions have been agreed. Right now, all the preferential mortgage programs are being refined so that, roughly speaking, they do not conflict each other. The program will be launched in the coming weeks," he said.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the government to launch a preferential 2% mortgage program for young families in the Arctic by November 1. The program in the Arctic should contain the conditions of the existing Far Eastern Mortgage Program. Further on, the president asked the government to extend the preferential mortgages to employees of the defense-industrial complex in the Far East and in the Arctic.

The Far Eastern Mortgage Program has been operating in Russia since late 2019. Under the program, applicants may take a housing loan for newly built or for secondary housing at a rate of 2% for up to 20 years. The program has boosted the demand for new flats, and the construction in the Far East has doubled from earlier 2.1 million sq m.

The International RUSSIA EXPO is running from November 4, 2023 to April 12, 2024 at the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh) in Moscow. Its goal is to demonstrate Russia’s major achievements in various sectors of the economy, with all 89 Russian regions participating. TASS is the forum's general information agency.

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