Ruble Mortgages Drop 82% in June

New ruble-denominated mortgage loans approved last month dropped 82 percent while loans in foreign currencies plummeted 91 percent as high borrowing costs and lower incomes damped demand, the Central Bank said Tuesday.

The value of home loans issued in June reached 63.5 billion rubles ($2.1 billion), compared with 344 billion rubles in the same month last year, the Central Bank said. It rose 25 percent in the month. Foreign-currency loans were equivalent to 4.4 billion rubles, less than one-tenth of the 48.9 billion rubles borrowed in June 2008, according to the report.

Delinquent debt on mortgages in foreign currencies rose to 4.3 percent of the total, compared with 4 percent a month earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Central Bank data. Overdue home loans denominated in rubles amounted to 1.4 percent after rising to 1.3 percent of the total in May.