Russian Vice Premier Alexander Zhukov chaired a meeting on the implementation of the national project known as Affordable and Comfortable Housing to Russian Citizens in the first half of 2008. Alexander Zhukov believes the so-called sporadic housing construction is no longer a solution to the country’s housing problems.

‘Multi-faceted area development projects have the greatest potential at the moment. I think the days of sporadic housing construction are gone,’ he said.

The official reports a lot more housing was put up in 2006-2007 compared with the previous years: 60.9 million square meters worth of housing was constructed in 2007 alone. In addition, per capita volume of housing went up from .3 square meters to .43 square meters last year compared to the year 2006.

At the same time, Alexander Zhukov remarked the tempo of housing construction appeared to go down a bit in the first half of 2008 against a year earlier due to seasonal fluctuations and statistical discrepancy.

‘The volume of mortgage loans offered to Russian citizens in the first quarter of the year has increased considerably compared to a year earlier despite the fact that the interest rates on mortgages have remained very high,’ he observed.