Housing issue in Moscow: rent or mortgage?
As the world experience shows, buying an apartment is not always the best option in solving the housing problem. The introduction in the new year of additional fees from homeowners for capital repairs of apartment buildings, the calculation of tax on living space at market value - all this adds confidence that rental accommodation for Russians, will be increasingly attractive.
Renting an apartment is more attractive than a mortgage
- According to ForTrader.org experts, mortgage rates are currently twice as high as rental ratesIn the Moscow region, for example, rent has been rising more slowly than housing prices this year.
- In 2012, according to statistics, real estate prices in Moscow and the Moscow suburbs increased by 6%, and the cost of rent - by 5%.
- Renting is becoming much more affordable and profitable to the population than buying real estate. With the incredibly inflated prices of apartments, the rent has become less than the bank deposit rate in percentage terms. This means that if you have the means to buy real estate, it is more profitable to rent an apartment and put the money in the bank. Then the income from the bank deposit will be comparable or even higher than the cost of renting an apartment.
- In addition, renting makes it much easier to change your place of residenceFor example, you dislike the area where you live, tired of noisy neighbors, offered more favorable working conditions in another district, city.
- Unlike a mortgage, renting does not require a long-term commitment. When buying an apartment on credit, you need to make a decent down payment, which may not be easy (especially if you have to bring the apartment to a habitable condition at the same time). In addition, buying a home on credit is associated with risks - rising interest rates, falling prices in the housing market.
Let's calculate the cost of mortgage and renting an apartment in Moscow
Taking into account the rather stable rental market in Moscow, mortgages are becoming less and less profitable. For example, in Sberbank you took out a 20-year loan for a turnkey apartment with a down payment of 30% of the apartment's value, then in this case interest rate will be 14.5% (no benefits).
Let's say that you have looked for a one-room apartment in a panel house near Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station at a cost of 7.2 million rubles. Then, on Sberbank's terms, each month you will pay the following to pay 63 thousand rubles on the loan. The rent of such an apartment is currently about 27 thousand rubles, i.e. mortgage payments exceed the rent more than twice.
The development of rental housing has received support from the Russian government. If all the plans approved last year are realized by government agencies, this segment of the market will become even more accessible to the population.
I did not and do not understand people who rent an apartment if they can take out a mortgage. Is it really so pleasant to live in someone else's apartment for years without being able to furnish it to your own taste? And sometimes they can't buy their own furniture, because the owners' furniture is in the apartment. But the most important question that arises is where to live after retirement. It is unlikely that it will be enough to rent accommodation in Moscow. So, from my point of view, you can only rent an apartment for a short time.