A total of 1,600 families in the Murmansk Region had purchased housing under the Arctic Mortgage program, while nearly 400 northerners had taken advantage of Family Mortgages, Deputy Governor Olga Vovk said during a briefing with Murmansk Region Governor Andrei Chibis.

“The Arctic and Family mortgages have become the tools that allowed us to launch housing construction for the first time since the Soviet era,” Olga Vovk said adding that several additional housing projects were expected to launch soon.

By the end of the year, the preferential 2 percent mortgage will also be extended to all employees of educational institutions and large families.

Currently, the price per square meter under the Arctic Mortgage program in the region has been increased to 155,000 rubles, aligning it with current market prices.