There is a state program, but there is no help. What nuance prevents families from getting a Family Mortgage

Julia Suntsova

The family of Yegeny Panyukov purchased a two-room apartment with a mortgage in Shchelkovo near Moscow in December 2021. Yevgeny and his wife have two small children - the eldest son is now three years old, the youngest is one and a half.

The state program “Family Mortgage” allows families to enjoy preferential terms both from the very beginning (from the first monthly installment) and from any subsequent one.

In other words, the borrower can pay a regular mortgage to the bank for some time, and later be refinanced under the state program, reduce the bank interest to preferential 6%. This is what Eugene planned to do. Now, on a regular commercial mortgage, the Panyukovs pay 58,000 rubles a month to VTB Bank.

"30 years at 9.4% rate is a lot. 58 thousand per month is three living wages. With refinancing under the "Family Mortgage" it would be 40-42 thousand rubles. We fully meet the requirements of the state program. We meet all the conditions - a young family, both under 35 years old, two young children born after January 1, 2018, the housing being purchased is the only one. But we cannot use the program, because there is a small nuance.

Banks do not approve of a Family Mortgage if it is purchased from an individual. This limitation automatically leads to something else: under this program it is almost impossible to buy an apartment on the secondary market. Secondary housing in 99% of cases is owned by individuals. A resale from a legal entity is found, but it is extremely rare and almost always such options are associated with great risk", - says Yevgeny.

What is in practice a legal entity that owns housing in the secondary market? There are different options.

For example, banks can take ownership of mortgaged apartments from borrowers who have not coped with monthly payments. Bailiffs or the Federal Property Management Agency also dispose of property seized on account of debts. Also, housing can be owned and disposed of by authorities: regional governments and municipalities can sell decommissioned departmental housing or housing that has become their property under rental agreements. Developers themselves, in some cases, pass their new housing through partner firms or "laying firms", but as the final beneficiaries they still need buyers. Sometimes developers themselves buy secondary housing from owners or exchange old client apartments for their new ones and thus become owners of secondary housing, also ready for subsequent sale.

All of these options can pose serious risks. For example, the former owners often try to return the arrested mortgage apartments, the courts last for years. If children manage to be registered there, they cannot be evicted by law until they reach adulthood.

The apartments that were transferred to the municipality under a rent agreement after the death of an elderly person, as well as other auction apartments, can be claimed by heirs after 10 years. Apartments that are on the balance sheet of any legal entity during the statute of limitations can easily become the subject of litigation at the request of creditors and fall under interim measures.

By the way, in the usual way, banks almost always refuse loans for the purchase of such "apartments with a dubious past".

"Resale for individual entrepreneurs and legal entities is scary, problematic, and why do I need an extra headache. Even if you are a fan of financial adventures and are ready to take on serious risks, finding secondary housing owned by a legal entity is not so easy", - says Yevgeny.

The state program encourages the purchase of new housing. Actually, the fact that it supports not so much young families as developers and related industries is not hidden in the Government.

“The decision will help more families to purchase their own housing, as well as support a number of industries, strengthen the demand for goods and services that people need, from building materials to furniture and various useful little things”, - the Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin noted at a Government meeting on August 17, 2021.

And now the main thing.

Families today do not just want to get involved with new buildings. Why is it wrong to impose new buildings on young families, and even under the guise of state support?

"Buying an apartment in a new building is a very burdensome undertaking. You wait two or three years until your house is completed, the keys are given out, then you do repairs for the same amount of time. And you also need to somehow save up for repairs. And all this in the best possible scenario. Will new houses be completed and completed on time now? But let's say you're lucky. There is another huge problem.

Where can a young family with babies and a wife on maternity leave get money to pay off the mortgage and rent a house at the same time? And you definitely rent housing, because one of the conditions of the “Family Mortgage” is that the housing purchased must be the only one. For example, we have a monthly mortgage payment of 58,000 rubles, plus the rent of a "transshipment" apartment is almost the same. Spending on life and children, too, has not been canceled. For someone who lives in some kind of parental apartment before moving into their own housing, maybe tolerable. But for those who start to solve the housing issue from scratch, it is very difficult. I work two jobs and moonlight, and we barely have enough to somehow cover these expenses", - says Yevgeny.

Realtors are now really discouraging buyers from apartments in new buildings. Economic problems are growing, the construction industry is stalling, the risks of unfinished construction and failure to deliver objects on time are multiplying, real estate experts say.

A special correspondent for Novye Izvestia contacted a Sberbank consultant. The main bank of the country even openly stated that the "Family Mortgage" is approved exclusively for objects in the primary market. "We do not consider the secondary market at all", - answered in support of Sberbank.

Sberbank, according to information on the website, offers a "Family Mortgage" with a rate of 5.3%, as well as mortgage refinancing under the same program - at a rate of 6%.

“A program for families where at least one child was born after 2018 inclusive or has a child with a disability.

Initial payment from 15%.

Loan term up to 30 years.

Min. the loan amount is 300 thousand rubles.

Max. the loan amount is 30 million ₽.

A low rate of 0.1%, taking into account the discount from the developer in the first year after obtaining a mortgage. Up to 12 million ₽ for Moscow and the region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, as well as up to 6 million ₽ for other regions.

"You can build a house or buy a finished / under construction housing. The main condition is the purchase from a legal entity: a developer or an investor", - Sberbank said in a release.

An exception for the "Family Mortgage" is made for the Far Eastern Federal District. There, a soft loan can be obtained for the purchase of housing both in new buildings and in secondary housing.

"I applied to several banks. Everywhere they answered that the state program was not designed for the secondary market. I sent a request to the President of Russia, but the same answer came from the Ministry of Finance. But why is it possible in the Far East, but not here? We are in the center - it's true, but we also have children and we also want to raise them. A mortgage, a communal apartment, a family with children - everything requires big expenses, I would like help from the state. If you are doing a family mortgage, if you really want to help young families, if you want to improve demographics, make sure that the program is designed for all young families. So far, it looks more like a half-measure. They helped the developers, well, well",... - says Yevgeny.

Yevgeny would like to ask a question on this issue in a direct line with the President. There is a nuance due to which millions of families with children in all regions of Russia cannot use the Family Mortgage. And this nuance must be eliminated, he says.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Housing Policy and Housing and Communal Services Galina Khovanskaya:

"Mortgage is our everything today. Of course, that amendment to secondary housing that people are talking about would have to be made if the law was really written to help young families.

But it was a lobbying law. This is actually a prohibitive measure against the secondary market. Since the mortgage is not only “our everything”, but also a powerful financial instrument, it is not profitable for lobbyists to allow the purchase of housing on favorable terms in the secondary market. Therefore, everywhere it was registered - only new housing.

The main goal of construction companies today is to reduce the rate. It is necessary to somehow return buyers and it is necessary to return them to the primary market, because their bread is only there. The secondary market has always been a zone that does not interest the authorities. Interested only by the citizens themselves. It seems to me that even if we assume that someone comes up with such an amendment to the legislation, it is unlikely that it will be adopted, since it will not stimulate housing construction".

Lawyer, candidate of legal sciences Gennady Nefedovsky:

"Low interest rates in any program, be it a preferential mortgage or assistance to families with children, is a kind of marketing campaign. It helps not only young families, but also the developer who needs to sell his asset, often not the most attractive one.

“Family mortgage” supports the demand for new housing, at the same time they are trying in this way to stimulate the construction industry to build new real estate.

The state, as part of the support provided to young families, is not interested in stimulating another individual or selling housing on the secondary market. Plus, transactions between developers or a legal entity with families within the framework of the announced program are easier to track and control.

With regards to benefits in the Far Eastern Federal District. The state is thus trying to motivate non-natives to move to the northern regions, to populate them, to popularize them. Well, for the inhabitants of these regions, where life is many times more expensive, and the conditions are more difficult, there is also a kind of support".