Center for Far Eastern Studies University of Toyama
Abstract
This paper shows how the Russian housing market and housing conditions have developed due to privatization and a government-adopted housing policy.First, it compares housing affordability between Russia and Japan. The emergence of a private housing market increased access for the Russian people to housing from the demand side. Therefore, measuring housing affordability represents the development of the housing market in Russia. However, Russia’s rapid development in the private housing market temporally hampered people’s ability to solve it by themselves. At present, Russia suffers from a shortage of quality housing units and affordability to quality housing.From this aspect, Japan remains a step ahead. Japanese housing loans have simultaneously promoted new housing construction and improved living environments. To solve this dual problem in Russia, this paper argues that Russia must introduce a combination of housing loan conditionality with building standards because the two countries have identical problems: the adoption of an effective housing policy under a low birth rate and declining population, and a shortage of quality housing units
