The demand for new apartments on the program is still ahead of the offer

The program of mortgage concessional lending "7-20-25" was approved on May 31, 2018, in accordance with the instructions of the President of Kazakhstan, the issuance of the first loans began in July.

According to the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as of September 20, 2018, banks have received 2,526 applications for a loan in the amount of 30.2 billion tenge. Of these, 1,695 applications for a loan in the amount of 20.2 billion tenge were approved.

However, as the department of economics and analysis of the NCE RK "Atameken" reports, today there is a high demand for apartments, which exceeds offer so far. There are not enough ready-made apartments on the market that are suitable for the requirements of the acquired housing.

For reference: according to the requirements of the program, new housing should be purchased from the developer and should not exceed 25 million tenge (in Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, Atyrau and Aktau) and 15 million tenge in other regions.

“In general, the program offers from developers are limited. For example, in the portfolio of one large developer in Astana there were only 5 apartments ready for the program,” - Nurlan Sakuov, managing director of the department of economics and analysis of the NCE RK "Atameken", said.

According to the operator of the program "Mortgage Organization "Baspana" JSC, only in July of this year about 3 thousand apartments in the country met the program conditions. The population has already bought half of these apartments according to the program, thus, the proposal does not keep up with the demand.

“Inexpensive apartments, especially of a small area, are bought up at the construction stage. By the time the object is commissioned, a limited number of apartments remain, and under the terms of the program, banks accept pledge and issue loans only for completed objects that have been commissioned. As a result, the main problem is that the program issues loans only for finished housing, whereas up to 90% of new housing, as "Baspana" says, is being implemented at the construction stage,” - Nurlan Sakuov explains.

In this regard, many construction companies offer to include objects of shared construction in the program. This approach is being discussed now by the operator of the program "Baspana".

“At the same time, if an apartment in Astana costs 25.7 million tenge, then you are no longer subject to the terms of the program, although the client is willing to pay the difference in the amount. Therefore, it would be better to limit not by the cost of the apartment, but by the amount of the mortgage loan, so that the client could add the missing amount,” - the speaker believes.

Thirdly, it should be noted that private developers often build commercial housing in the cities of Almaty and Astana, while activity in the regions is much lower. In this regard, in order to increase the number of proposals for primary housing in the regions, "Baspana" plans to allocate 150 billion tenge to local akimats for the construction of houses under the program. Mechanisms are now being worked out with akimats. The allocated funds will turn around on a revolving basis every 2 years.

“Another barrier to the implementation of the mortgage program, of course, is the cost of housing itself. For example, with a salary of 100 thousand tenge, living in a rented apartment, it is very difficult to accumulate a down payment. To this end, in a number of regions, such as the city of Astana, Shymkent and Aktobe, akimat decided to subsidize part of the down payment from the local budget for young families and public sector employees on the basis of the allocated budget limit. The president recommended this practice for other regions to adopt,” - Nurlan Sakuov, managing director of the department of economics and analysis of the NCE RK Atameken, notes.

In general, for the successful implementation of the program it is necessary to increase the construction of primary housing, work to reduce the cost of square meters.

“To date, these and other issues are being discussed at the sites of state bodies and the NCE RK Atameken together with banks and developers. The orders voiced by the Head of State to revitalize the housing program will give it a new impetus and will revive the housing market,” - the speaker concludes.

During the annual Message to the people of Kazakhstan, the Head of State noted that the new program “7-20-25” aims to increase the availability of housing mortgages. He instructed akims to work on the issue of partial subsidization of initial contributions on a preferential mortgage from the local budget, and also to establish the implementation of "7-20-25" as an indicator of the effectiveness of regional akims' work.