OREANDA-NEWS. October 24, 2012.  The third annual conference “Mortgage Lending in Russia” organised by the Expert RA rating agency took place. It was attended by representatives of regulators, banking associations, top banks and insurance companies. One of the speakers at the conference was Andrey Maltsev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, Head of the Retail Block, reported the press-centre of Nordea.

The conference participants discussed the outlook and development scenarios for mortgage lending in Russia, tools enabling to increase the affordability of mortgage loans, the state’s role in market stimulation and the situation in the construction industry.

In the course of the conference Andrey Maltsev remarked: “The year 2012 has witnessed a balanced mortgage lending market: a growth in residential property supply, including the primary housing market, alongside with the cost of loans remaining rather attractive for borrowers. The market has been developing and the majority of Russian banks have been actively increasing their credit portfolio. Despite the change in the situation as we approach the end of the year, mortgage interest rates have started to rise. In this respect Nordea Bank finds itself in a unique situation. Today we are actually a market leader in mortgage lending prices. Furthermore, we have simplified the mortgage lending procedure, now a preliminary decision is taken on the basis of three documents. The Bank has also started to refinance mortgage loans advanced by other banks. Since October this year our mortgage lending programmes offer new advantages: a lower interest rate for customers with a big down payment; new fixed rate periods – for 15 and 20 years. As a result, Nordea Bank’s mortgage lending growth rates in 2012 are higher as compared to the previous year.”

According to the 1H2012 results Nordea Bank was ranked among the Top-20 mortgage banks in Russia. The Bank’s mortgage portfolio in Q3 this year exceeded RUB 14.5bn.