Preferential Russian mortgages in the occupied territories: most loans were taken out in Mariupol. Many of the recipients are not local

In 2024, Russia’s Promsvyazbank issued about 1,300 preferential loans for the purchase of housing in the occupied territories of Ukraine, the pro-Kremlin RBC media outlet reported.

The head of the bank’s retail business unit, Alexei Shchavelev, told RBC that about 38 per cent of these loans were issued for the purchase of housing in Mariupol. Shchavelev explained this by the emergence of a large number of new housing units in the city to replace the destroyed houses of local residents.

According to him, unlike Donetsk and Luhansk, where mainly locals apply for mortgages, Mariupol has “significant demand from residents of other Russian regions”. Shchavelev did not provide any figures.

RBC explained that the programme of mortgage loans at a two per cent rate of up to six million rubles was launched in 2023. In 2024, it was expanded to include cheaper secondary housing, but only for certain categories of buyers, such as military personnel and public sector employees.

Outside of Mariupol, there is almost no new housing construction in the occupied territories. In Donetsk, for example, the local “news agency” recently announced the first construction of an apartment block in ten years.

In addition to Promsvyazbank, Russian Sberbank and VTB have been issuing preferential mortgages in the occupied territories of Ukraine since the end of 2024, RBC noted. VTB told RBC that currently, the bank has issued the most preferential loans in Luhansk.

As Occupied reported, the occupation authorities of Mariupol have introduced the practice of assigning new buildings on the site of destroyed houses of Mariupol residents to new addresses. As a result, local residents cannot claim ownership in the new buildings.

At the same time, residents who have lost their homes receive neither compensatory housing nor cash payments sufficient to purchase an apartment or house.