A decrease in the affordability of housing was recorded in Russia

Over the past two years, the affordability of housing in Russia has fallen sharply, interrupting the 12-year trend, writes Delovoy Peterburg newspaper on December 14.

This conclusion allowed us to calculate the housing affordability coefficient – this is a value that allows us to estimate how many years a family with an average income will be able to save up to buy an apartment, provided that all its funds will be directed only to purchasing housing. In Russia, this indicator is calculated annually by the Institute for Urban Economics.

According to him, the maximum rate of 5.3 was in 2007 and 2008. After that, over the course of 12 years, it declined, reaching its minimum value (3.2) in 2019.

However, in 2020, growth began, and at the end of the year the coefficient was 3.3. In 2021, the figure has not yet been calculated, however, analysts predict an even larger increase.

“The affordability of housing depends on two factors – the cost of the mortgage and the square meter. Rates on mortgage loans have increased after the cancellation of the preferential program, but the sharp rise in prices has stopped: in the coming year it is projected at 12%, ”said Dmitry Mikhalev, head of the department for public relations and government bodies at St. Petersburg Renovation, to the newspaper.

Andrey Pankov, deputy general director for production issues of the Construction Trust association, named another reason for the decline in housing affordability in the form of a drop in income due to accelerated inflation.

“In such a period, it is at least strange to talk about an increase in affordability, because natural methods of regulation imply an increase in the key rate, and this, in turn, leads to an increase in the cost of loans,” the DP interlocutor said.

Read more in the exclusive material of “Delovoy Petersburg”: “The affordability of housing in St. Petersburg is falling at an alarming rate.”