'The scheme that gives a member of a cooperative a chance to buy an apartment for 50% of the price does not seem to be very transparent or clear. The cooperative must explain where they will get the other half that will later be paid to the bank through a mortgage loan,’ Director of Yarmarka real estate agency Dmitriy Gusev said to UrBC.

In the meantime, Yekaterinburg is full of ads that offer buying a place through cooperatives. The cooperatives claim you only have to pay 50% of the apartment’s full cost, with the other half to be paid by RusFinance. Then the cooperative will allegedly be paying this money to the bank during a ten-year period.

'If this 50% come from the fees the cooperative member pays to join, it still means they pay the full price for their home. If the money comes from the other members’ fees, it looks very much like a Ponzi scheme,’ Mr. Gusev added.