Sverdlovsk Region-based borrowers are getting less active in the summer of 2011, which the lending market players say has to do with the seasonal variations.

According to the mortgage advisor Optima Credit, the demand for loans slumped by 17% in the beginning of summer compared with May 2011, with greatest downfalls observed in the business loans sector (47%) and mortgages (46%). The demand for consumer loans declined by 9%, whereas that for automobile loans has remained the same.

The business loans are really not so popular with the borrowers just now. However, some businesspeople keep investing in their enterprises, which is especially true of the trading industry, transportation, and advertising,’ says Optima Credit’s Director-General Evgeny Shmelev.

As for mortgages and consumer loans, the difference in rates between a mortgage loan and a consumer loan taken out for the same purpose comes to about 4% to 5%. The banks are also removing the traditional barriers to mortgaging dwellings worth under 2 million RUR: they now let you take out a loan to buy a house with wooden support structures, small studios, rooms in the halls of residence, and basically dwellings built on any floor and in any year,’ says Optima Credit’s leading expert Maria Frolova.

All in all, banks stick to the interest rates set as early as the start of 2011, with the average figures coming to 19% a year for ruble consumer loans, to 12%-14% for automobile loans, to 11%-12% for mortgages, and to 12%-14% for business loans.