Escrow accounts in equity construction number over 100,000 in May
The indicators of project financing in equity housing construction continued to go up in May, according to the results of the survey in the banks authorised to open developers’ settlement accounts and escrow accounts. However, the growth rates maintained April’s downward trend in contrast to the beginning of the year. This decline was caused by the impact of the anti-coronavirus restrictions.
In May, the number of escrow accounts rose by 12,100, or 14%, to approximate 100,200. Equity construction participants’ funds in escrow accounts increased by 11%, to total 352.7 billion rubles.
As of 1 June 2020, banks signed over 1,200 loan agreements with developers. The overall amount of credit facilities exceeded 1.39 trillion rubles, of which developers have already drawn down 481.2 billion rubles depending on their needs in funds for construction.
The average interest rate on loans granted to developers remained almost unchanged, ranging from 3.9% to 5.5% (across the federal districts). The size of the interest rate under each particular agreement largely depends on the amount of funds accumulated in escrow accounts, as well as other factors (e.g., support programmes for developers — small and medium-sized enterprises).
To date, 47 constituent territories of Russia have completed 154 projects delivered using escrow accounts. Nearly 7,900 escrow accounts were released for these projects, and the funds transferred from them to developers and banks to repay issued loans totalled almost 17.0 billion rubles.