VIII. Housing Trends and Policies
Figure 5. Houses completed in Uzbekistan in 1996–2006
Initiatives
to provide
affordable
housing to both
middle-income
and low-income
households
remain fairly
limited. The
current programs,
would have to
be substantially
scaled up in
order to make
significant
difference
in housing
conditions for
such families in
urban areas
32
provides long-term subsidised mortgages to middle-income families
and young families (typically for 15 years with an initial 3-year interest-
only payment period); it also provides subsidised loans to home-builders
and building-material manufacturers and attracts foreign and national
investments to the new affordable mortgage system.
By 2008, Ipoteka Bank had provided mortgages for 2,357 families
and expects to expand its operations. Between 2007 and 2009, it had
also supported the completion of 44 multifamily houses (21 of them in
Tashkent City).
The Mortgage Fund offers long-term mortgages at a 5% interest rate
for a 15-year period as well as credit lines for Ipoteka Bank for further
loans to builders of targeted housing. Local governments cooperate
with mahallas (which compile lists of needy households) in order
to ensure that the mortgage-based housing programs are actually
implemented.
Development of the mortgage system has also been stimulated by tax
exemptions for borrowers and for private developers providing housing
for the state mortgage programs. In 2009, the state considered piloting
mortgages for low-income households, but Ipoteka Bank has insisted that
it does not have the capacity to extend its subsidised mortgage products
to such a stratum.
Hence, state initiatives to provide affordable housing to both middle-
income and low-income households presently remain fairly limited.
The current programs, while moving in the right direction, would have
to be substantially scaled up in order to significantly improve housing
conditions for such families – who constitute the majority of all families
– in urban areas.