RIA Novosti: the average mortgage loan in Russia has grown to almost 4 million rubles 
The average mortgage in Russia in October increased by 4 , 5 percent in comparison with the previous month and now amounts to 3.74 million rubles, RIA Novosti reports with reference to a study by the credit bureau Equifax.
»Apartments. “The growth in the average amount of a mortgage loan is primarily due to the growth in the value of real estate and a decrease in the share of apartments purchased for investment purposes, the cost of which was below the market average, which pulled the average amount down,” explains the CEO of the company Oleg Lagutkin.
Equifax reports that the impact of these processes is gradually decreasing, so the average loan amount is unlikely to reach more than four million rubles. Nevertheless, in some regions this stage has been passed: in cities with a population of over one million, the average amount of a mortgage is approaching seven million rubles.
Mortgages were taken a little less often in October, the amount decreased by 1.6 percent, to 58 thousand loans. However, due to the growth in the average amount, the volume of loans last month increased by 2.8 percent – to 216.8 billion rubles.
“Now many market participants expect an increase in demand for mortgage loans – this is a typical situation for the pre-New Year season … Issues may increase by 10-15 percent compared to previous months, “Lagutkin noted.
Earlier it was reported that Russians who took out a mortgage three or four years ago at 12-13 percent per annum may reduce rate by refinancing it – now it is about 9 percent. The nuances of this method of reducing payments were revealed by real estate expert Irina Radchenko in an interview with the Narodnye Novosti portal.