YEREVAN. – Banks in Armenia are not ready to compete for clients in a new way and to reduce mortgage rates, realtor Hakob Baghdasaryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In his words, after the passage of the bill on Housing Mortgage Loans—whereby mortgage loan refinancing and collateral liberalization is permitted in Armenia, banks in the country have begun to actively compete for clients.

But, as per Baghdasaryan, this has not reflected that much on loan terms.

“So that the amount of mortgage loans and real estate sales qualitatively grows [in Armenia], the mortgage rate needs to be brought [down] from 10-12 percent to up to 6-7 percent, in three to four years,” stated the realtor. “Of course, for long years, banks [in Armenia] have gotten used to not taking any risks, and [therefore] they need time to change their [respective] conservative approach.”