‘There are four basic factors that play a decisive role when one chooses a mortgage scheme. Firstly, how quickly a bank considers your application and the nominal interest really matter. Secondly, a client wants a bank that would offer them better terms, given especially that the banks tend to become less picky lately. Thirdly, a customer usually wants to get the money on the day the agreement was signed. Finally, clients still see the low interest rates and high upper limits on the amount of money they want to borrow as their top priorities,’ Dmitriy Zhuchkin, Director of KUB Ltd., a real estate firm, said to UrBC.

According to the official data, Sverdlovsk Region’s banks provided their clients with 1,161 mortgage loans (which is 3.25 times better than in 2005) worth 1.068 billion RUR (five times better than in 2005) in January-June 2006. Only 52 mortgages were issued last January, whereas as many as 361 (worth nearly 355 million RUR) were issued in June 2006. As regards the period of January to October 2006, the local banks gave their customers 2.871 billion RUR worth of mortgages, which is 5.7 times better than in January-October 2005.

‘We have been cooperating with a large number of regional banks that are popular with our clients. Our company is trying to find the most suitable mortgages for our customers; we’ve tried using those offered by Bank URALSIB, but it turned out to be inconvenient for the clients. For one, the bank employed the so-called 80/20% scheme (this means that the customer must invest 20% as their first installment) which is generally disliked by the borrowers, who normally fall into two categories: those who cannot afford to make the first installment that exceeds 10% of the price of a dwelling and those who have 50% of the sum needed. Therefore the bank’s scheme is good for neither of the two types of borrowers. So, we are not using Bank URALSIB’s mortgages at the moment,’ Mr. Zhuchkin said.