Russian housing finance policy: state-led institutional evolution

Abstract

A public policy scholar sets out to investigate the reasons behind the exceptionally high interest rates for mortgage loans in Russia. The article argues that this situation can be explained by examining Russian government policy making in the area of housing finance during the post-Soviet period. Following comparative literature, the process of policy development over time is argued to be determined by the interaction of such factors as policy legacies, policy ideas, institutional environment and actors' interests. The article demonstrates how the agency model of housing finance was institutionalised in policy during the 1990s. The initial appeal of this model to the interest of diverse actors at different levels of government is explained. The subsequent evolution of this model towards the formation of a ‘state-led model of housing finance’ over the recent decade is traced and its limitations in producing sufficient volumes of mortgage funding are highlighted. The analysis, in addition, demonstrates that alternative policy ideas with the potential to generate extra volumes of mortgage finance are also available in Russia within the relevant policy community. Their adoption in policy is, however, presently blocked by the interests of the top policy officials seeking to increase and maintain the central role of the Russian state in directing the country's economy.