When a mortgage becomes a fairy tale
For years, Russian families have been promised that mortgage programs would open the door to affordable housing. But when a top lawmaker calls mortgages a yoke and says that developers and banks "will never get enough," it's time to ask — who's really benefiting?
Nina Ostanina, chair of the State Duma Committee on Family, Motherhood, Fatherhood and Children's Issues, didn't hold back during a press conference this week.
"A mortgage is a yoke. No matter how preferential it is, it's still unaffordable for a young family," she said bluntly.
That's not just an opinion — it's a punchline to a failed system.
📉 The numbers don't lie: who's the mortgage really for?
On paper, the Russian mortgage market looks active. From January to September 2025, Russians took out 2.59 trillion rubles in home loans.
But look closer:
🔻
That's 33.5% less than the same period last
year.
🔻 In September
alone: 399.2 billion rubles issued.
🔻 Average loan
size: 5 million rubles.
Now ask yourself — how many young families in the regions, earning maybe 60 to 70 thousand rubles per month, can realistically afford a 5-million-ruble loan?
Short answer: they can't. But the banks? They're just fine.
🏗️ Where does the state money go?
Ostanina didn't mince words. She compared Russia's "Young Family" mortgage program to the classic Russian fable The Fox and the Crane, where the food is there — but no one can eat.
"Stop feeding banks and construction companies. They'll never get enough," she warned.
It's more than frustration. It's a direct accusation — that government money meant to support families is instead fueling profit for the private sector.
🏘️ Back to the USSR?
Ostanina's proposal? A radical shift — go back to the Soviet model.
"I graduated from university — two or three years later, I got social housing. That's how it used to be."
No more 20-year bank chains. Just real, state-owned housing, fairly distributed. An incentive to work, not to borrow.
Sounds unrealistic? Maybe. But in today's reality — where renting is expensive and owning is out of reach — her plan sounds less like nostalgia and more like a challenge to the status quo.
💰 So who wins with mortgages?
Let's be honest. Today's mortgage system isn't built for people — it's built for profit. If you don't have savings, stable income, or wealthy parents, you're trapped.
You're not a beneficiary. You're a revenue stream.
And when a member of parliament openly admits that — maybe the cracks are too big to cover up.
💬 What do you think?
Is it time
to bring back state-owned housing?
Is mortgage debt modern slavery?
Or is this just another political soundbite?
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