“One loan per couple”: how family mortgages have changed in 2026

Since February 2026, the Russian real estate market has been entering a “fine-tuning” phase with a series of changes in legislation. The central innovation is the tightening of the Family Mortgage program: from February 1, only one preferential loan at 6% is available per couple with mandatory co-borrowing by both spouses, which blocks schemes where one spouse took out a loan for the other. Maternity capital is indexed, which partially compensates for the new restrictions.

Market situation
The real estate market is at a crossroads: the lack of affordable mortgages for more than a year has been weighing on prices, but high inflation and a lack of supply are supporting them from below. In St. Petersburg, the average cost of apartments in new buildings increased to 13.2 million rubles in January 2026, and the supply of finished apartments across the country decreased by 15%. Experts note that in large cities about 70% of apartments remain unsold due to high prices.