The Bank of Russia has announced new macroprudential policy measures for the third quarter of 2025, affecting both mortgage and consumer loans. Starting July 1, 2025, the bank will lower macroprudential add-ons for new mortgages, aiming to enhance the quality of the lending structure.
According to the bank, these add-ons have significantly improved mortgage lending structure, as the proportion of loans to borrowers with a debt service-to-income ratio (DSTI) above 80% decreased from 47% in Q3 2023 to 6% in Q1 2025. Similarly, the percentage of new loans with a down payment below 20% decreased from 51% to 5%. However, the quality of mortgage servicing has slightly deteriorated, with loans overdue for more than 90 days increasing from 0.5% to 0.9% over the same period.
The bank was authorized to establish macroprudential limits (MPLs) for mortgages with the intent to reduce high-risk loan shares. "The Bank of Russia has decided to set MPLs for mortgages for 2025 Q3 at a level that would not worsen the existing structure of the riskiest loans," it stated. MPLs are intended to prevent an increase in high-risk loans without affecting the overall mortgage supply.
In the automotive lending sector, increased macroprudential add-ons have led to improved lending standards. For car loans, the proportion of loans to borrowers with a DSTI above 50% fell from 61% in Q2 2024 to 20% in Q1 2025, while those with a DSTI over 80% decreased from 29% to 3%. The Bank of Russia has established equal MPLs for car loans and consumer loans secured by vehicles for Q3 2025, allowing for a margin that should not hinder households' ability to acquire these loans.
The Bank of Russia has opted to maintain the current MPLs and macroprudential add-ons for unsecured consumer loans and microloans in 2025 Q3. The share of new unsecured consumer loans made to borrowers with a DSTI above 50% dropped from 61% in Q1 2023 to 24% in Q1 2025. However, the loan servicing quality slightly decreased, with the overdue loans rising to 2.7%.
Corporate loans, particularly foreign currency loans, saw no change in add-ons due to a decline in such lending by $14.5 billion over the year. The Bank of Russia has also decided to maintain the existing schedule for the national countercyclical buffer (CCyB), which remains at 0.5% of risk-weighted assets, ensuring balanced lending growth.
Overall, these measures are part of the bank’s ongoing strategy to manage financial risk and maintain stability in the financial sector.