Average Salaries Are Not Enough For Anyone: How Much Do You Need To Earn To Take Out A Mortgage

Photo: Sergey Konkov /

In order to get a mortgage at the market rate, a person’s income must be in the hundreds of thousands of rubles per month, provided that he does not have other loans. This is at least twice as much as before the abolition of preferential mortgages at 8%, besides, it does not correlate with salaries even in cities with millions.

As an example, let’s take an apartment worth 12.5 million rubles for a period of 20 years. The initial payment is 20% (2.5 million rubles). The loan amount is 10 million rubles. The rate is 19%.

— The monthly payment will be 162 thousand rubles. The bank can provide only 50% of the income for a mortgage, respectively, it must be at least 324 thousand rubles. This is also without taking into account current loan obligations, rental costs and so on,” mortgage broker Dmitry Rakuta said in an interview with a correspondent of “City Portals”.

How much did you have to pay on a mortgage with state support?Infographics: Dmitry Rakuta

The payment at the market rate turned out to be twice as high: Dmitry Rakuta

However, the cost of housing differs in different regions. We have figured out what salary is required in large Russian cities in order to take out a mortgage. As an example, we took the most popular among Russians — a two-room apartment (44 sq. m. m is the minimum floor space standard according to the Housing Code of the Russian Federation). The loan term is 30 years with a rate of 19.5%.

The average salary will not be enough for a mortgage payment. Infographics: Polina Avdoshina / City Portals

Now mortgages are the lot of the well—off segments of the population. As it turned out, the average salary for current credit conditions is several times lower than banks require.

There are pitfalls that should be considered when buying real estate with a mortgage, said Peter Shcherbachenko, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation:

the amount of the initial payment

credit history

other financial obligations

insurance

The protective mechanisms of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation are now actively working, and it is becoming more difficult to get a mortgage. It is important to have an official income and a credit load, ideally no more than 50%.

— Since 2023, the Bank of Russia has been striving to improve the quality of mortgages due to restrictions for borrowers with loans. Banks encourage the use of official income information to assess the maximum debt burden (PD), — said Ekaterina Stashkova, product manager of Mortgage at Compare.

If 50% of income is spent on monthly loan repayments, then it is difficult to get a mortgage. Since the PD is considered high.

Far Eastern, rural, IT and family mortgage programs are still operating on the market, where rates are much lower. Sellers of secondary housing can also make concessions.

— In real life, families have the opportunity to take out a preferential mortgage at 6%, choosing an apartment not at an average price, but cheaper — away from the city center, with a smaller area. Secondary buyers can bargain with the seller and “throw off” 10-15% of the price. Moreover, prices on the secondary market in most cities are 20-30% lower than new buildings,” added the executive director of the financial marketplace “Choose.” Yaroslav Bajurak.

According to him, even in this case, due to high rates, the final overpayment on a market loan over 30 years may cost five such apartments. This “cools” the ardor of potential borrowers.