MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. The housing construction in the Arctic Zone grew by 72% due to the Far Eastern and Arctic Mortgage program, Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunkov told TASS.
"Stimulating supply in the housing market is a significant effect of this program. Over the program's two years, housing under construction in the Arctic Zone has increased by 72%, or the increase of 0.5 million square meters in absolute terms," the minister said.
Under the Far Eastern and Arctic Mortgage program, 10,600 loans were issued in the regions of the Russian Arctic in 2025, the minister continued. "This is almost half all preferential loans since the program started in 2023 - a total of 23,000 families and qualified professionals living in the Arctic are provided with housing, with a loan of 2% per annum. The average loan in the Arctic is 4.2 million rubles ($53,300)," he explained.
According to the minister, leading regions in granting preferential mortgages in 2025 were the Arkhangelsk Region with 5,400 issued loans, the Krasnoyarsk Region with 2,300 loans, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region and the Murmansk Region - 1,200 loans each.
Over two years of the Arctic Mortgage, it has become the most popular mortgage program in the Arctic, where 70% of all loans are issued at a rate not more than 2% per annum, Maria Polyakova, leading the Digital Transformation and Sustainable Development Department at the Vostokgosplan Federal Autonomous Scientific Institution, explained to TASS. "Over the recent two years, the housing market in the Arctic has revived noticeably. The Arctic Mortgage has become an important driver of demand, and the large-scale housing construction in the region has recovered for the first time since Soviet times. The housing construction in the Arctic has grown by 1.7 times against 2023 to about 1.2 million square meters in 2026," she explained.
The housing market in the Arctic will have a steady growth potential in the next three to five years due to the ongoing work on implementation of the Russian Arctic's master plans to develop cities, due to development of Arctic backbone settlements, due to new and improving existing social support mechanisms for people living in the Far North. "In fact, the housing market in the Arctic is has been moving gradually from the shortage phase to the conscious development phase," she added.
About the program
The Far Eastern Mortgage program has been operating in Russia since 2019. It is aimed at improving housing conditions in the Far Eastern Federal District and at developing the construction market. Under the program, the interest rate of issued loans should not exceed 2% per annum, the maximum loan amount is 6 million rubles ($76,210), or 9 million rubles ($114,300) when a client is buying an apartment of 60 square meters. Since November 2023, the program has been available to residents of the Arctic.