Monday, December 17 2012 20:05
Mortgage lending project of French Development Agency and National Mortgage Company to be launched in March-April 2013
ArmInfo. The mortgage lending project of the French Development Agency (AFD) and National Mortgage Company (NMC) will be launched in Armenia in March-April 2013, Nerses Yeritsyan, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), said during the Dec 17 roundtable.
He said that the project aims to enhance the affordability of mortgages for households with average and low incomes and to improve the housing conditions via introduction of energy- saving technologies.
"The Central Bank of Armenia gives high priority to development of the mortgage market of the country, considering it not only as a means for development of the financial sector and economy in general, but also as a tool for settlement of such an important social problem as improvement of housing conditions of Armenia's citizens", he said.
He stressed that the presence of long money attracted alongside with development of insurance and pension systems of Armenia will considerably contribute to development of the mortgage market. "Over the past 1-2 years, 15-20% growth was fixed in both the quantity and volume of mortgage loans. However, the current volumes of lending are not enough to satisfy the Armenian population's real demand for mortgages", said Yeritsyan.
It should be noted that the project is based on the demand survey conducted by Ameria CJSC, which won the tender of the French Development Agency. Tigran Jrbashyan, Head of Ameria Management Advisory Services, said that the survey was conducted among 1020 households in the 10 most densely populated towns of the country.
Mortgage lending is especially popular in Yerevan. 94% of the questioned households want to borrow such loans. 34% of them are medium income families, earning 200,000-350,000 AMD a month.
The demand for mortgage loans among low and medium income households in the coming three years will make up $350mln, for housing repair loans $370mln.
"The loans for the use of power saving technologies are not popular and here we need awareness raising efforts," Jrbashyan said.
He said that the most preferable terms are 6-14%, 5-10 years. In earthquake-stricken Gyumri and Spitak the terms are softer – 7% and over 20 years. The preferable terms for repair loans are 15% and 4-30 years.
According to ArmInfo's Ranking of Commercial Banks of Armenia, as of Oct 1 2012 the mortgage loan portfolio of the Armenian banks made up 124.2bln AMD ($3.5.6mln), with the NMC, the Affordable Housing for Young Families, the First Mortgage Company and Fides inclusive – 153.7bln ($378.3mln).
Set up in 2009, National Mortgage Company specializes in refinancing mortgage loans provided by credit organizations. Its only shareholder is the Central Bank of Armenia. As of Oct 1 2012 its loan book made up 17.2bln AMD (35.5% more than Oct 1 2011).
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