Russian Mortgage Reform in Focus as Government and Duma Create Joint Working Group
The State Duma and the government of the Russian Federation have established a joint working group to study mortgages, a development reported by Vedomosti with input from Alexey Didenko, a deputy from the LDPR and the head of the Duma Committee on Regional Policy and Local Self-Government. The move signals a serious attempt to address disparities in housing finance across regions and to assess how mortgage policy can better reflect local economic conditions.
Officials indicate that the first meeting of the group could be scheduled after the government delivers its upcoming report, which is expected to run from early April. The exact timing will be announced as the review progresses, and participants plan to outline a clear agenda for the group’s work, including timelines and expected outcomes.
One of the central topics slated for consideration is the possibility of adjusting mortgage rates based on regional income levels. The aim is to align lending costs with the typical wage scale in different areas, potentially easing access to credit for residents in regions with lower average salaries while ensuring sustainability for lenders in markets with higher incomes.
As Vyacheslav Volodin, the Speaker of the State Duma, noted, the country faces various social challenges in housing finance. There are already several targeted mortgage programs, including ones that favor residents of far eastern regions and those living in rural communities. Yet, he emphasized that wage levels can vary dramatically from city to city. For example, earnings in Moscow are substantially higher than in Kostroma, which complicates uniform mortgage terms across the federation and highlights the need for regionally responsive policies.
Earlier, Kommersant highlighted a trend in housing procurement. In the context of high mortgage rates and rising prices in Moscow, joint real estate purchases have grown in popularity as a strategy to share financial risk and access housing more efficiently. This shift reflects broader consumer behavior when traditional mortgage financing becomes more expensive or less accessible to households across major urban centers.
There is also a noted shift in how Russians approach borrowing for home purchases. Across the country, there has been a measurable decline in the absolute number of new mortgage agreements as households reassess affordability and debt levels in a changing economic environment. The joint working group is expected to explore how policy adjustments could support more balanced lending and broader access to homeownership while maintaining financial stability for lenders and investors alike.