At an expanded meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Federal Structure, Regional Policy, Local Government and Northern Affairs, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East Alexei Chekunkov, said preferential mortgage rates of 2 percent should be available to doctors and teachers in the Arctic.

“We believe a subsidized Arctic mortgage rate program should be initiated in the widest possible format, just like in the Far East. We will achieve this. This is especially important for doctors and teachers – mortgages have been expanded to cover this category in the Far East, regardless of age,” Chekunkov said.

The minister noted that it is not easy to attract social workers to remote regions, but that preferential mortgage rates would help resolve this issue. The possibility of expanding reduced Arctic mortgage rates to these specialists is already being discussed, Chekunkov added.  

Preferential Far Eastern mortgage rates were launched in 2019. The program allows for receiving a mortgage for housing in the Far Eastern Federal District at a preferential rate of no more than 2 percent annually. With this program, citizens can buy housing in new buildings, as well as secondary-market apartments, if they are located in rural settlements, in the Magadan Region or the Chukotka Autonomous Area or in single-industry towns.