On June 24, Ardshininvestbank and Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) signed a loan agreement aiming at provision of additional resources for mortgage lending in Armenia. Ardshininvestbank will draw on funds amounting to USD 8 million during the 6 months to come and extend affordable long-term residential mortgage loans, including jumbo loans with a maximum amount of USD 200,000, according to the bank’s press service.

“The recent crisis inflicted great losses on the real estate construction, which once strongly supported the economic growth in Armenia. In this regard, it is also the responsibility of the banking sector to stimulate the real estate and mortgage lending markets. This facility with the BSTDB will allow Ardshininvestbank to assertively expand its mortgage loan”, Mher Grigoryan, Chairman of Ardshininvestbank Management Board, said.

“While the speculative demand for residential real estate has significantly subsided, the fundamentals show strong demand still exists, as the real estate market remains obsolete and densely populated, with often 2 families living in small apartments.

Short-term and high interest rate mortgage loans are the main obstacles to expansion of the scope and scale of such lending.

With this project, we are going to improve the situation, solving some of the existing problems, particularly by making mortgage loans more affordable and accessible in Armenia”, added Grigoryan.