From Women’s Mortgages to Gen Z: Why Home Loans Remain Hard to Get in Kazakhstan
Photo: Orda.kz
Kazakhstan’s state-owned housing lender, Otbasy Bank, expects to relaunch the Umai mortgage program for women by the end of August. Bank chair Lyazzat Ibragimova also identified down payments as the main obstacle for young buyers and defended the lender’s complicated eligibility requirements, Orda.kz reports.
Women Mortgage Expected Within Two Weeks
Ibragimova did not give an exact launch date but said the mortgage program for women should become available within two weeks and before the end of August 2026.
The program is financed with funds raised from the Asian Development Bank and is not a state-funded housing program. Ibragimova said Otbasy Bank now has an approximate cost for the ADB financing.
Participants will be able to buy homes on either the primary or secondary market. The bank will consider whether applicants already have Otbasy Bank deposits and how long they have been saving, so Ibragimova recommended opening a deposit in advance.
Otbasy Bank expects strong demand and plans to issue preliminary housing loans through Umai. The program was previously expected to relaunch in 2025, but the deadline was postponed.
Why Gen Z Struggles to Buy Housing
Housing prices and down payments are rising faster than the incomes of young professionals in many countries. People starting their careers must cover rent and daily expenses while trying to save 20–30% of an apartment’s price.
Rent consumes money that could otherwise go toward a down payment, creating a cycle that is difficult to escape. High mortgage rates, a shortage of affordable apartments and bank requirements concerning employment history, income and credit records create additional barriers. Even young people with steady earnings may fail bank scoring because they have not yet accumulated enough capital.
An OECD report found that homeownership among young people has declined in several countries. The share of tenants spending more than 40% of their disposable income on housing rose from an average of 12.8% in 2012 to 17.9% in 2023.
Ibragimova said the down payment is the main obstacle for young borrowers in Kazakhstan.
She referred to a Brazilian housing-finance model studied by specialists from Brazil, Singapore and the United States. Participants did not undergo standard bank scoring or immediately provide a down payment of 20–30%. Instead, they made regular fixed payments to demonstrate their ability to save.
According to Ibragimova, participants aged 20–25 who gained access to housing were 32% more likely to have a child.
Why Otbasy Bank Mortgages Are Complicated
Many customers compare obtaining a mortgage from Otbasy Bank to completing a series of difficult tasks: they must save, wait, improve their assessment score and collect documents.
Despite this, borrowers continue to use the bank because its interest rates are lower and they often have few alternatives.
Ibragimova acknowledged that the system imposes several requirements. An applicant’s assessment score and savings history are important, and in some cases the minimum savings period is six months.
Some housing programs also check whether applicants or their close relatives already own property.
There are many criteria. Every year, we issue about 80,000 loans. Digitalization is already saving considerable time, and many more services will be transferred to the mobile application this year, so customers will not have to visit a branch.
Ibragimova said the requirements stem from Otbasy Bank’s housing-savings model. Customers’ deposits are pooled and then used to provide mortgages to other families.
Our system is designed for people who want to save and know that their loan rate will remain low and unchanged. Saving is difficult, but repaying the loan is easier.
According to Ibragimova, strict borrower screening has kept the bank’s share of non-performing loans at around 0.3%. Among some customer groups, it is only 0.14%.
She did not announce any specific easing of the lending requirements. For now, the bank is relying mainly on digitalization to make the application process faster and more convenient.
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