“The mortgage market is in the making in Armenia,” Bagrat Asatryan, former chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), told NEWS.am. “Housing construction constitutes more than 50% of the construction work, but only 2,000 apartments have been annually put into service over the last 3-4 years, which is an absurd number,” Asatryan said. According to him, houses and flats number 700,000 in Armenia. About 14,000 flats have to be put into service for reproduction of Armenian population to be ensured.

As regards the RA Government’s recent statement on mortgage market development and housing programs for young people, Asatryan declared: “The statements are false if, according to statistical data, only 2,000 flats are put into service. Moreover, 80% of mortgage contracts are false, and it is no secret. If you need a credit at a good interest rate, you arrange with your companion and get a ‘mortgage credit’,” Asatryan said.

T.P.