OREANDA-NEWS  The red size of the mortgage loan in the fourth quarter of 2018 increased by 17.5% compared to the same period last year, to 2.34 million rubles, according to the National Bureau of Credit Histories.

Earlier, the National Bureau of Credit Histories indicated that this figure in November last year rose to 2.34 million rubles - a record figure for all time observations.

"According to 4.1 thousand creditors, transmitting information to the National Bureau of Credit Histories, in the fourth quarter of 2018, the average size of the mortgage loan increased by 17.5% (or 348.3 thousand rubles compared to the same period last year) and amounted to 2.34 million rubles (in the fourth quarter of 2017 - 1.99 million rubles)," - said in today's message of the Bureau.

The largest average mortgage loan in the reporting quarter was recorded in Moscow (4.61 million rubles), Moscow region (3.48 million), St. Petersburg (3.04 million), Yakutia (2.66 million), and Primorsky Krai (2.6 million rubles).

At the same time, the most serious growth dynamics of the average size of the mortgage loan compared to the same period in 2017 (among the 40 leading regions in terms of this type of retail lending) was recorded in Vladimir (+31.9%), Tomsk (+30.1%) and Voronezh regions (+28%), as well as in Bashkiria (+27.4%) and Penza region (+25.5%). In Moscow, the average size of the mortgage loan for the year increased by 5%, and in St. Petersburg-by 14.9%.

"In 2018, mortgage lending grew both in the number and amount of loans issued for the purchase of housing, and in their average size. At the same time, in our opinion, one of the reasons for the growth of the average size of the mortgage loan last year is the decrease in the amount of the initial mortgage payment by banks. In other words, the decrease in the size of the down payment led to an increase in the body of mortgage loans," - said the General Director of the National Bureau of Credit Histories Alexander Vikulin.