Text version
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I'm about to show you a family, and I'm sure that
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hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions
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of people will say, "This is exactly about us," and that
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is true, because the story called
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"We Have Nowhere to Live" is one of the most
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common stories in our country. Vitaly
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and Ksenia both work, and overall they
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earn enough to
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buy a home with a mortgage
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— but only if they lived in another
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country, where interest rates are reasonable. But
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in Russia, they are such that it is practically
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impossible. My name is Vitaly, and this is my
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wife, Ksenia.
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We currently have two children. I work in
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banking. Right now she's on maternity
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leave. At the moment, we live in a
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rented apartment in the Moscow region. Our
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average monthly family income is
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about 90,000 rubles (roughly $1,000), so the larger
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part is earned by me. I run
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my own business. We also receive
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child benefits.
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For example, for our older child we
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currently receive 50 rubles a month (less than $1).
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We spend most of our income on
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loan payments — about 40,000 rubles (roughly $450), so
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there were times when things were hard
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financially and we had to take out loans.
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It ended up that we were covering some loans
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with others. The second major expense item
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is, of course, housing.
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Since it's rented, we spend on the apartment
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from 30,000 to 33,000 rubles (about $330–$370), depending on
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utility costs. Half of that amount is paid by
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our parents — they help us. All the rest
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of the money we earn is spent on the family. We
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were planning to buy our own home and
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naturally take out a mortgage for it.
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We looked at one of the residential developments.
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The housing there came to approximately
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5 million rubles (about $55,000). We contacted
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several banks and realized that
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the monthly payment over 30 years for that
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amount would come to around forty-
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three thousand rubles a month. At the moment,
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we simply cannot afford that. That was
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the minimum monthly payment
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we were offered.
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And the problem is that even something like
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maternity capital (a Russian state family support subsidy)
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is not accepted by banks as a down
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payment.
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So in order to take out a mortgage,
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you also have to save up money first. So right now we
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simply have no choice between an apartment
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and a house — we are staying in rented housing. We
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live here.
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Go to a bank right now and try
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to get a mortgage, and they'll tell you:
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11 or 12 percent. And for
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the overwhelming majority of people, that
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instantly closes the door to
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buying a home. But why 11 percent?
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After all, according to the Finance Ministry
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and the Central Bank, inflation is currently in the range of
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2.5 to 3.5
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percent. And at the same time, the Central
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Bank is throwing around hundreds of billions and
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trillions to rescue bankrupt
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bankers, giving them money at
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zero interest.
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When someone from Putin's circle needs to get
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a loan, they get money from the state
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— nearly $2 billion at 3
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percent annual interest. So it turns out that we
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with our high interest rates are forced to
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compensate the banking system for
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cheap money for corrupt officials,
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Putin's friends, and relatives. Right
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now, taking inflation into account, we can
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make mortgage loans
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available for 25 or 30 years at 2 to 2.5
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percent annual interest. This would require
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relatively modest
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spending
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— certainly far less than what
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the Central Bank is currently throwing around
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left and right. And then our mortgage
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market would start working like it does in normal
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countries.
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You know, in the Netherlands it's 2.5
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percent, in Switzerland 1.7
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percent, in Japan 1.6.
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I want to become president so that
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any family with two working
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adults
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has the opportunity to buy a home
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with a mortgage at the same rates as in
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developed countries. This is a direct responsibility
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of the state.