MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. Russian households’ debt burden has decreased to 10.1% by the beginning of April from 11.3% in the previous year amid a decline in expenses on servicing of cash loans and mortgage loans, according to the Central Bank’s Financial Stability Review.

"Amid a slowdown in retail lending and an outrunning increase in household incomes, households’ debt service-to-income ratio at the macrolevel (the percentage of households’ income used to service their loans) edged down from 11.3% as of April 1, 2024 to 10.1% as of April 1, 2025. The decrease was predominantly caused by a decline in expenses on servicing cash loans (-1.3 pp over the year) and mortgages (-0.2 pp over the year)," the regulator said.

The mortgage market cooled down in the second half of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, driven by the tightening of the Central Bank’s monetary policy and the termination of the large-scale subsidized mortgage program, according to the review. "The macroprudential policy measures helped improve the lending standards. However, just as in unsecured lending, the quality of mortgage debt servicing started to deteriorate, with the proportion of debt overdue for more than 90 days reached 0.9% as of April 1, 2025 (vs 0.5% a year before)," the Bank of Russia said.

In 2024 Q4-2025 Q1, the rise in new housing prices slowed down. "However, the gap between primary and secondary housing market prices is still large (52% according to SberIndex and 60% according to Rosstat as of April 1, 2025), which carries risks for both borrowers and banks," the regulator noted.