Now Russian Families with Two Incomes and Two Children Can Afford a Mortgage in Only Two Federal Subjects, a Decline from in 30 a Year Ago

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 29 – A year ago, Russian families with two incomes and two families could afford mortgages in just over a third (30) of all federal subjects could afford to take out a mortgage. Now that figure has fallen to only two, the petroleum-rich Khantsy-Mansiisk and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous districts, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions says.
    This decline has two important consequences. On the one hand, it means that many families now feel they have fallen out of the middle class, whatever the Kremlin says about economic growth (nemoskva.net/2024/12/29/v-98-regionov-rossii-semya-iz-dvuh-rabotayushhih-vzroslyh-i-dvuh-detej-ne-mozhet-sebe-pozvolit-ipoteku-po-rynochnoj-stavke/).
    And on the other, it means that families with two incomes but only one child are now having to choose between having a second child, which is what Moscow wants them to do, and getting a home of their own, which many view as the mark of success. Not surprisingly, many are choosing the latter and depressing the birthrate still further.