YEREVAN, September 3. /ARKA/. The Armenian government is preparing unprecedented mortgage rates for the social housing program, designed for young families, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a live Facebook broadcast on late evening on September 2. He recalled that over the past 45 days several local banks have announced a reduction in mortgage rates.

"There are banks that have reduced mortgage rates by 1-2%. Today, average rates on AMD mortgage loans are 11%, down one percent. This is not a bid drop, of course, but w hope this is the first step in that direction," Pashinyan said.

He said also that the government has long been working on a social mortgage program, which has approached the final stage.

"In the near future we will unveil unprecedented mortgage rates for social housing program designed for young families. In particular, mortgage rates for buying homes at the secondary market will be 7.5% in Yerevan and up to 5.5% in the regions. Armenia has never had such mortgage rates. Besides, the total age of spouses will be raised from 65 to 70 years," Pashinyan said.

He said there will be other mortgage programs which will also offer mortgage loans at 7.5% interest rate for buying homes from the primary real estate market.

He said if an apartment is bought in a newly-built building worth 20-25 million drams, the buyer will get back his/her payroll taxes. In this context, he pointed out the importance of ending the practice of unregistered employees so that citizens could fully use the benefits of this program. -0--