As of January 1st, 2010, the provision of housing in the country stood at 24.1 square metres of gross living space per capita. “Forecasts suggest that this will reach 25-27 square metres by 2015,” noted the Head of the Department for Housing Construction at Belarus’ Architecture and Construction Ministry, Alexander Gorval, speaking at an international scientific and practical conference: Implementing the Concept of Affordable and Comfortable Housing Construction.
In terms of the number of apartments per 10,000 people, Belarus is a CIS leader. As of January 1st, 2009, this figure stood at 73, against 54 in Russia, 37 in Kazakhstan and 20 in Ukraine. Belarus also compares favourably with advanced European economies, where the index is 50-70 apartments per 10,000 (Denmark, Norway, France and Finland). The rapid pace of housing construction is largely due to growth in lending, mostly via preferential loans.
In the coming five years, Belarus is to shift from administrative methods to the wider use of market incentives — such as mortgage lending and housing construction savings. Amendments are expected to the Housing Code, in the area of apartment rental.
