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How to save for an apartment with any salary? Financial literacy lessons: how to save for your own home? How to save money for an apartment

Every person, in one way or another, thinks about their own housing if they don’t have one. As they say, my home is my castle. Own housing instills confidence in a person. And it is right. In any weather, you have somewhere to return - where they are waiting for you. However, not everyone can afford housing. Many people have been saving for it for years. There are people who pay their mortgage - overpaying 2 times. You need to start saving for an apartment as early as possible.

The question is: how much to save? An apartment savings calculator can help with this. It allows you to calculate how much you need to save from your salary in order to save up for housing in a few years? Perhaps someone thinks that they can simply save without making a contribution. In this case, set the deposit rate close to zero (0.01%) In this case, you will receive the approximate amount of contributions without taking into account the capitalization of interest.
The calculation method is written in the article -.

Calculation features

  1. If you do not have an initial amount, enter the value 0
  2. The calculation is made excluding taxes and holidays. Those. with a real deposit in the bank, the income may be less
  3. The calculation is based on a deposit with interest capitalization

How to save for an apartment with a salary of 30,000?

A salary of 30 thousand rubles is quite small. Let’s say you save half your salary each time
10 thousand will be spent on groceries, 5 thousand on utilities and entertainment, if you have a car, then on it (gasoline, etc.) If you calculate on a calculator with an apartment price of 1.5 million, then every month you need to put 7322.60 into the bank for a deposit with an interest rate 10%. As you can see, you will still have approximately 7,500 left for expenses, i.e. You can easily accumulate 1.5 million in 10 years. However, by saving 15 thousand over 6 years you will accumulate 1.5 million rubles from scratch. However, there are a number of nuances:

  • The apartment may become more expensive
  • Money may depreciate and we do not take inflation into account
  • You may get sick, you will have a child - the risks will increase

The solution may be to take out a mortgage - then, although you overpay, you get ownership of the home.
The only question is whether they will give you a loan with a salary of 30 to 1.5 million rubles.
To do this you need to use a calculator. It will show you how much the bank will give you.

  1. Invest in yourself. Your knowledge and skills will bring you more income and make you more competitive in the labor market.
  2. Forget about risky instruments - Forex, mutual funds, trust management. If you are not a professional at this, you will lose money and that's it. 90% of people who invest in this end up losing money. The same applies to trading stocks and bonds.
  3. Deposit is the best means of savings. If you don't believe me. I have a deposit for 5 years, at 20% per annum with capitalization. It is better to invest in times of crisis when the stakes are high
  4. Keep track of your finances. Install water and electricity meters. Buy a travel ticket. Take advantage of discounts in stores
  5. Try not to take loans and not be creditors. Don't be a guarantor for loans
  6. Make it your own. What do you like most - start your project, which you will do and which will generate profit. Website, program, your own business selling Socks. Start earning a small income. But remember, to get income you need to invest money and time.
  7. Forget credit cards. Live within your means! Do not apply for any expensive cards, for example

I am glad to welcome you, dear readers of my blog. Today I met a friend who complained that for the umpteenth time he had to move out of his rented apartment and look for new housing.

In response to my reasonable question whether he had tried to save up for his own living space, my friend began to passionately assure that in modern conditions this was unrealistic.

Let's try to figure out in this article whether an ordinary person with an average income can hope for a chance to purchase their own home, and how to save money for an apartment.

Those who dream of their own “fortress” have several alternatives.

  1. Purchase an apartment on the secondary market entirely with personal funds. This is perhaps the best option from the point of view of further financial responsibility. The only question is where to get these funds.
  2. Take advantage of a bank mortgage. By choosing this method, you have the opportunity to immediately use the housing for its intended purpose, but you receive at least double overpayments on the loan. Banks also require high official income, which is not suitable for everyone.
  3. Buy an apartment on the primary market. Theoretically, this will save money, since existing housing is much cheaper than ready-made housing. In addition, many developers offer the option of installment payments. However, do not flatter yourself, the interest on it is already included in the price of the property. In our country, this method is considered dangerous due to the possible risks of bankruptcy of the developer.
  4. Get a loan from the housing cooperative (housing and savings cooperative). This method is suitable for those who have at least 50% of the cost of housing. Here you will not be required to confirm official income. However, there is always a risk that the agreed loan amount will not be enough in the event of a strong rise in housing prices. There is also a high probability of falling into the clutches of scammers who love such schemes.

As you can see, there are not very many options and for any of them you will need a certain amount of money, which is what we have to do.

Setting realistic goals is the first step to success

Before you begin the accumulation process, you need to decide on a specific goal.

What kind of apartment do you want: number of rooms and square meters, presence or absence of renovation, area of ​​residence, surrounding infrastructure, etc.

Here it is important to be honest with yourself and “stretch your legs over your clothes.” If, working as a simple economist in Tver, you persistently dream of a three-room apartment in the center of Moscow, not wanting to consider other options, it is unlikely that your plans will come true.

Of course, dreaming is not harmful, and reasonably inflated goals are designed to stimulate us to new achievements.

However, obviously utopian dreams will bring you nothing but complexes and depression.

Therefore, focus on real offers, even if it is not your dream area for now. Who said that in the process of accumulation you cannot push the boundaries of what was planned?

Determine the approximate price range for the offers you are interested in and estimate the inflation percentage for the next 2-3 years. It is during this period that we will try to accumulate the necessary one.

Choose the method of purchasing real estate that suits you. This will allow you to roughly calculate the total amount, as well as the amount of the down payment or required monthly payments.

Having received a certain, albeit approximate figure, we begin to accumulate funds. For convenience, we calculate the monthly amount of required savings based on the total planned period of time.

Budget optimization is an unpleasant but necessary measure

Unfortunately, in the process of accumulating significant sums, you cannot do without cutting back on your requests. However, this is only one of the necessary measures in the process of optimizing our budget, which will require:

  • correctly distribute income, depending on priority goals;
  • establish strict control over expenses;
  • start forming a savings fund;
  • find additional source via .

Target income distribution

In the traditional scheme of distributing available income, money is first allocated for mandatory and current expenses, and from the rest they try to save something into a savings fund.

The problem is that many obligatory expenses are not such, such as purchasing a new pair of shoes just because you think the old ones are no longer fashionable.


Therefore, we begin to think differently. Our main goal is to buy an apartment. This is why we dance. Having added up all the sources of possible income, the first step is to allocate the entire necessary planned amount to the housing savings fund.

And from the rest we form our monthly budget, including expenses for food, clothing and entertainment.

In this way, you kill “two birds with one stone”: you ensure regular and stable accumulation of funds, and also learn to save or look for new ways of additional income in case of lack of money for living.

Cost control

To effectively implement this point, you will have to significantly change your usual way of life and look at the world more broadly.

You will be surprised, but you can exercise not only in an elite fitness club, but also at home and while running in the park. Giving up a daily pack of cigarettes will allow you to collect a considerable amount in a year, simultaneously saving on the treatment of chronic diseases of the ENT organs.

And what brand of jeans you are most concerned about is yourself, not those around you. Detailed practical tips on saving can be read in my article “”.

The next point regarding investing is one I would like to consider in more detail. After all, it is with its help that it is possible to significantly speed up the time frame for collecting money to buy your own apartment.

Competent investment is a catalyst for the process


Here I will not discuss ways to invest money in or independently trade on. Let's talk about options available to any average person without much experience or investment skills.

The main mistake many people make when they refuse to admit that they have the ability to make their money work is the belief that an investor can be a person with a “tidy” bank account.

This is wrong.

Of course, small amounts will not provide you with financial independence. However, in any case, they will provide stable passive income, which will significantly speed up the accumulation process.

So, I suggest considering the following alternatives.

  1. A bank deposit is more an option for protecting savings from inflation than a way to increase them. The advantages include the possibility of receiving a fixed income and early repayment of funds, albeit with a loss of interest. In addition, if you have accumulated a sufficient amount, you can take out a loan against a deposit, the interest on which will partially offset the costs of loan payments. The only downside is low profitability.
  2. Trust management is perhaps the only way to quickly increase your capital. The best options are to invest in reliable or PAMM accounts managed by experienced Forex traders. To minimize risks, divide your capital between several funds and traders, having first studied the history of their work.
  3. Investments in real estate. If you manage to collect some not very large amount, consider purchasing a room or an inexpensive apartment, perhaps even in another city with more affordable prices. By renting it out, you will provide yourself with constant passive income.

As you can see, there is nothing particularly complicated. The main thing is to set yourself a goal and go towards it in small steps.


I hope that my article has at least a little inspired those who have not yet decided to start saving for the purchase of their own home.

Don’t be afraid to try and, perhaps, soon you will have to pack your bags to move to a small, but your own apartment.

With this I say goodbye and look forward to seeing you among my subscribers.

Subscribe also to the Telegram channel - t.me/site. See you again!

P.S. For loan refinancing other banks please pay attention to the offer Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD) for an amount up to RUB 1,000,000. at 13% per annum.

The bank also provides the opportunity to register online applications for consumer loans with a rate of 11% for amounts up to 200,000 rubles. only with a passport (with a certificate of income up to 1,500,000 rubles).

Not everyone is ready to live with their parents until old age, theirs or theirs. Young people, becoming financially independent, dream of acquiring housing freedom. When leaving their parents' house, renting a room or apartment, everyone, without exception, dreams of their own corner, in which they can truly be the owner. Which is not so easy given the current realities. The task is not simple: if the salary is thirty thousand rubles. In this article we will give answers to the most pressing questions of modern Russia:

  • to quickly save up for an apartment: is it a utopia or is it possible for everyone?
  • mortgage or rent?

Maybe a mortgage?

There was a time when a mortgage seemed like the only option. Thousands of people took it at unimaginable interest rates and considered it a blessing.

Now the perception has changed, Russians have become more critical, the crisis has dragged on and now the decision to shoulder the mortgage yoke is made carefully. But still, many believe: a mortgage is profitable. Let's look at the situation: a novice specialist takes out a mortgage, for which he must be prepared.

  • An initial fee. The percentage set by the bank may depend on it. The smaller the contribution amount, the higher the risks for the bank, so as a rule, the bank increases the loan rate in such cases. Important! The minimum down payment is 15%.
  • Mandatory monthly payments. On the one hand, this is tolerable; you also have to pay for a rented apartment. True, if the finances are shaken: the person was fired or fell ill, then it is unlikely that it will be possible to come to an agreement with the bank, and the investment in real estate will be lost. The constant stress that borrowers are under affects their health and psychological state. Indeed, it is difficult to live for ten to twenty years under the pressure of a mortgage.
  • Bank overpayment. The longer the mortgage term, the greater the overpayment. Borrowers often realize that they are being “robbed” when they are up to their necks in mortgages and nothing can be done.

Economical method

This accumulation method is suitable for people who are ready to cut back on their own needs for a long time.

With a salary of 30 thousand rubles, in order to start saving, you will have to rent a room or a bed in an apartment. And of course it is necessary to significantly revise the costs:

  1. It wouldn't hurt to have a notebook and keep track. An expense item will help identify unnecessary expenses.
  2. Good for both health and wallet give up alcohol, sweets and cigarettes. Surprisingly, bad habits are a serious expense. And getting rid of them will increase the budget by at least 48,000 rubles per year.
  3. Electricity and water meters, travel ticket, discounts in stores will help you save on little things.
  4. No entertainment. Movies only at home, cafes, clubs and frequent wardrobe changes will have to be abandoned.
  5. Supermarkets and shopping centers- a concentration of meaningless temptations. Everything here is thought out and done so that customers take what they don’t need and more. To save money, you should either go to the market or go to the nearest wholesale center. In hand is a shopping list. This will save at least 12 thousand per year.
  6. The money that is saved with such difficulty should not go to waste: it is correct to open a bank deposit, in a trusted bank, at interest.

Let's be realistic: it will take a long time to save in this way. Minimum 10 years, but the mortgage is not paid off for 2 years.

The positive side here is different: no credit pressure. No connection to your place of residence: you can change jobs and at the same time find an apartment closer, or even move to another city or country. Freedom from a mortgage means less fear, which means more opportunities.

The method is progressive

This method is similar to the economical one, the difference is only in the intermediate stages. The main thing here is to be cool and dexterous. Having saved up a small amount, buy a room in a hostel or a hotel on the outskirts or in the suburbs, where prices are not so high.

You can live in the room yourself or rent it out; in any case, in addition to the purchased property, you will have quite a bit of extra money. Then this room can be exchanged, with an additional payment, for an apartment with weak infrastructure and further until you reach the desired option.

This method will help those who are ready to constantly look out for advertisements, looking for favorable conditions, and travel through abandoned and “burning” apartments. This method is both more involved and riskier, but also much faster if the circumstances are successful.

Cooperative

At one time, this method of buying a home was popular and effective. People bought apartments together. This happened much faster than doing it alone. The principle of cooperatives is simple: the group has an administrator who collects monthly sums from the “shareholders,” for example, a hundred of them, and periodically one of the participants, usually the one who invests more, buys an apartment.

Due to the large number of scammers in this type of organization, few people risk investing in cooperatives now.

How to save up quickly?

You can accumulate quickly only by taking risks:

  1. Investments in Forex. Yes, it is risky, but the result can also please you. Cons: you cannot accurately calculate your monthly income. Money can be lost.
  2. to a mutual investment fund. The main thing here is to choose a stable and reliable fund. Sometimes the percentages reach 50.
  3. , internet project. You can create your own business project or invest in a startup. Again, this is suitable for people with entrepreneurial talent and at least minimal business experience. The risk of going broke is high, but the dividends, if everything works out, are not bad.

Still You can’t do without looking for additional income, if you need an apartment as quickly as possible.

It is not necessary to look for something alien to your character and nature. If you are a teacher, there is no point in becoming a sales manager, but you should try your hand at tutoring. If you have a hobby that you are good at, then you can monetize it. Knit funny hats and warm socks from natural wool, bake homemade pies with cabbage, write articles, abstracts - with the development of the Internet it has become much easier to sell your unique skills.

Social programs

Public sector workers often complain about low earnings that are disproportionate to the efforts spent. It seems that it is impossible to save for an apartment while working as a nurse or teacher. Exists many government programs, helping state employees purchase housing. There are also subsidy programs for young families and more. It’s difficult to get an apartment this way; it’s a small chance. But who is preventing us from acting in several directions at once?

Instead of an apartment - a house

The fixation on an apartment in a panel house is surprising. Saving for 10 or more years for a two-room apartment, while you dream of a big family, a yard with apple trees and a big dog, is not productive. It will be cheaper to buy land and gradually build a house. And even a small house is still larger than an apartment. The house is being built in several stages, which means it’s easier to save for it.

  1. purchase of land. Land in Russia is inexpensive, and in some regions it is generally distributed free of charge - in the first year.
  2. House frame - on second or third year.
  3. Electrical wiring, plumbing work - fourth year.
  4. Interior decoration - fifth year.

Investments depend on the size and price of the land, and the choice of building materials.

Before you buy a piggy bank and start putting your honestly earned money there, you need to make an estimate.

First. It is advisable to decide in advance what kind of housing you are counting on: primary, secondary. It’s easier and faster to save up for primary items; the most profitable investment is to lay the foundation. The risks are really significant.

Second. Area. The further away from the center, metro, the cheaper.

Third. Infrastructure. The area is underdeveloped = low cost of apartments. In this case, it is necessary to look at the future, what is planned in the coming years. Now there is no kindergarten, school, or sports grounds nearby? It is worth finding out the immediate development plans from the district administration or the developer.

Fourth. Explore all the possible options that exist on the real estate market. Write down the prices. Look at old advertisements, try to track how much the cost of an apartment changes.

Fifth Buying an apartment is the main thing, but not all the costs that lie ahead, there are also:

  • Notarial services.
  • Government duty.
  • Real estate agency services.

Sixth and pleasant. Repair, purchase of furniture and household appliances. Furnishing your own apartment is a joyful expense. But it’s better to include them in the estimate in advance.

The problem of improving living conditions is relevant for many Russian families. However, the incomes of most citizens do not allow, unfortunately, even to plan the purchase of housing in the near future. So the question of how to save for an apartment is just as relevant these days as earning money for an apartment.

State of the real estate market in Russia, approximate prices

The state of the real estate market in Russia cannot but be affected by the protracted economic crisis caused by falling energy prices and political factors.

According to the forecasts of some experts, the pace of housing construction is expected to slow down in 2017. This in turn will reduce supply in the market and lead to higher prices. On the other hand, the pricing policy of construction companies cannot ignore rising costs due to changes in the ruble exchange rate and prices for imported equipment.

Nevertheless, the developer is still focused on the consumer, so the cost of housing for many companies remains within the range of 2015 - 2016, but savings are achieved due to a slight decrease in the quality of building materials and infrastructure.

Due to the crisis, prices are even falling. At the same time, many experts predict a serious drop in the cost per square meter, amounting to 6 - 7% and caused by:

  • reduction in the purchasing power of the population;
  • the desire of the developer to quickly sell apartments and houses.

Thus, forecasts for the near future practically contradict each other.

Today the following is the average cost per square meter of an apartment in different regions of the country. Changes in prices as a percentage compared to last year are indicated in brackets.

  • 106600 rub. in Crimea (- 13%);
  • 96600 rub. in Sochi (+ 11.1%);
  • 73,000 rub. in Khabarovsk (+ 0.5%);
  • 67500 rub. in Nizhny Novgorod (+ 4%);
  • 65500 rub. in Kazan (-0.7%);
  • 62,000 rub. in Ufa (- 5.7%);
  • 56800 rub. in Rostov-on-Don (-4.8%);
  • 40900 rub. in Smolensk (-9%);
  • 36300 rub. in Maykop (- 1.3%);
  • 34,000 rub. in Yelets (+ 1.2%);
  • 22000 rub. in Kaspiysk (Dagestan Republic) (-20%).

In Moscow and St. Petersburg

Today, the average cost per square meter of Moscow housing is 215,000, and in the Northern capital - 105,000 rubles.

In the first months of 2017, prices in Moscow remained virtually unchanged, while in St. Petersburg they increased by 4.5%. At the same time, many developers complain about a decrease in demand. In this regard, they offer various preferential programs:

  • enter into agreements with banks to provide mortgages;
  • provide discounts that sometimes even reach 20-30% of the cost per square meter;
  • conduct advertising campaigns with wide bonuses and benefits.

Prices thus vary several times depending on the region. Their dynamics change in the same way. Somewhere the cost of housing is falling, and somewhere, on the contrary, it is increasing.

Comparison with average salary

The average salary in the country is calculated annually. However, the resulting results from official statistics and non-governmental bodies may differ from each other.

Today, the average salary of Russians is 35,000 rubles. excluding taxes or about 30,000 rubles. real income. This is according to the state statistical agency.

The largest job search services reduce this amount to 30-31 thousand “dirty”. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, the salary level exceeds the all-Russian indicators and reaches about 50,000 and 40,000 rubles, respectively.

Meanwhile, many people have incomes in the range of 15-20 thousand, because the given official statistics for the country are the arithmetic average between the incomes of ordinary workers, directors and top managers of large companies.

Calculation of the approximate required amount

To understand how many years you will need to save for housing, you need to weigh your family budget and monthly expenses. Some statistics are not appropriate here, because all this is strictly individual.

Nevertheless, there is a pattern according to which an average family of three will need to spend approximately 40,000 rubles for normal living in Russia. monthly. If you set yourself the goal of saving money, you can, for example, give up summer vacations and some entertainment. This will make it possible to save another 5-10 thousand. This unspent money can be saved in a bank account by opening a deposit with the ability to add funds.

  • putting aside 2000 rubles. per month to the account at 10% per annum, you can accumulate 156209 in 5 years and 413279 in 10 years;
  • if you increase this amount to 5000 rubles. and have a deposit on the same conditions, then you can accumulate 390523 in 5 years and 1033197 in 10 years;
  • To save up to buy housing in 10 years, you need to save at least 10,000 rubles. per month, resulting in 2,066,394 rubles in the account.

Once again, it is necessary to emphasize that these indicators vary greatly depending on the needs of a person and his health. Many families, even with good incomes, cannot save up for their housing for years, because they are wasteful or, for example, are forced to spend money on renting an apartment.

To reduce the time spent collecting money, you need to save. In fact, this is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. However, there are several recommendations that can help you raise money a little faster.

  1. It is important to carefully plan your family budget, consider the need to purchase expensive items, and try to regularly save at least a few thousand every month.
  2. It is worth giving up a number of entertainments: going to restaurants, summer trips, relaxing in clubs, and the like.
  3. Every day people spend large sums of money on trifles and bad habits. If you give up meeting friends at the bar in the evenings or buying coffee and chocolates during breaks at work, you can save more money for a new apartment.
  4. A lot of money goes towards transport. You can save money by not driving a car to work and home, using transport only when absolutely necessary. Gasoline is expensive today, so the savings will be significant.

Of course, these savings options are far from the only ones. If you think a little and carefully weigh your family budget again, then various other ideas may come to mind.

Options for increasing income

In addition to saving, you can think about how to earn more. You may be able to get a higher position or find another high-paying job, so you should definitely talk to your boss and regularly monitor the dynamics of the labor market. You can get a part-time job on weekends, do internet copywriting, write term papers or dissertations to order, or become a taxi driver.


  • jewelry;
  • antiques;
  • old books, music records and so on.

And again, in order to come up with some profitable option for yourself, you should find free time to think about this in a calm atmosphere.

Investment options

To accumulate money more effectively, the amount set aside must be used taking into account the existing risks and possible results.

For example, a bank deposit gives a small interest, which at best will compensate for inflation. But the credit institution guarantees the safety of funds.

A mortgage is a possible option for purchasing a home. However, before putting yourself in a hole of debt, you should carefully weigh the pros and cons.

Mortgage lending is an extremely unprofitable program if the money is not provided on preferential terms. In Russia, in general, loans are not very profitable for the consumer, since in our country, compared to Europe and the USA, inflation is quite high, and the interest rate on the loan cannot be lower than this value.

For greater clarity, we can give an example. Let's say an apartment costs 3 million rubles. A mortgage loan is provided subject to a mandatory down payment - usually 15%, that is, 450 thousand. Consequently, the bank lends 2.5 million rubles. If the loan term is 10 years, and a 13% bank rate is imposed, the resulting bank overpayment will be about 2 million, that is, almost the entire cost of the loan. So, in our opinion, it is better to save up yourself than to overpay the bank.

However, a significant advantage of a mortgage is that with the help of a bank loan a person immediately becomes the owner of his home. In principle, loan repayment costs can be reduced by renting out one of the rooms or even the entire apartment. However, debt bondage cannot be beneficial for a person, because it is a banking service, and the credit institution itself receives all the benefits from it.

Examples of calculating savings for an apartment for a certain amount of time

Let's try to figure out how many years it will take to save for housing if you have certain incomes.

  1. Salary 20,000 rub. It’s unlikely to allow you to save more than 5,000 rubles. per month for a new apartment. This will give 60 thousand a year and it is not difficult to calculate that by saving that much, it will be possible to save at least a million for a one-room apartment in only 15 years at least.
  2. With a salary of 30,000 rubles. It will be possible to save half of this amount, if, of course, such money is enough for living: food, clothing, utility bills, rent, and so on. Nevertheless, 180 thousand a year allows you to reach almost 2 million in 10 years, and at today’s prices this is enough for a good two-room apartment in the provinces and a one-room apartment on the outskirts of Moscow.
  3. With a salary of 50,000 rubles. With certain savings, it is quite possible to save 30,000 rubles per month. or, accordingly, 360 thousand per year. Thus, in 4 years there will be one and a half million, and in 8 years - three.

All these figures are given without taking into account inflation and bank interest charges, so they can be considered approximate, but fully reflect the required time frame for purchasing your own home.

What can you save on when buying an apartment?

While saving enough money to improve your living conditions, you can take care of looking for an economical option. So, how can you reduce the price:

  • secondary housing is cheaper than new;
  • you can find living space that does not require renovation;
  • the price is significantly reduced due to the distance from the city center, the crime situation in the area, the proximity to industrial facilities, and so on.

Buying a secondary home also allows you to bargain with the owner, so after a careful inspection you can try to bring down the price by pointing out to the owner certain shortcomings of the offered living space.

Owning comfortable and spacious housing is a real dream for millions of Russian residents. Many of us, since perestroika (for more than twenty years), have been living in simply monstrous conditions - there are often cases when a family of 4 or more people lives in a one-room apartment, or when people wander around rented apartments until their death, not being able to buy their own housing. The most prohibitive housing prices are in the capital. That is why the question - how to save up for an apartment in Moscow (or any other city) - is relevant for a huge number of residents of our country.

30 square meters in one of the cells is the dream of millions!

The current state of the Russian real estate market

The Russian Federation has long been confidently among the top ten countries with the highest prices for residential real estate. For example, according to the results of a 2010 study of the global real estate market by Evans Property Services, Russia ranked fifth out of forty countries analyzed in terms of cost per square meter relative to wages in the region. The average Muscovite needed to save for an apartment at constant prices and wages for 26 years, and the average Russian - 21 years (if you don’t eat, don’t drink and live on the street).

But time passes, and prices change, and salaries also do not remain unchanged. Recently a magazine IQR wrote about in 2015. If we take current prices and salaries, then one person needs to save their entire salary for an apartment for about 11 years in Moscow and 6 years in the regions (since prices and salaries are different everywhere, there may be a slight deviation from this figure). It seems like there is progress. Let's move on to absolute numbers.


Beautiful sunset

If you open advertisements for the sale of real estate in Moscow, you will not be able to find amounts containing less than six zeros. For clarity, let’s look at the approximate minimum housing prices.

Moscow. To become the owner of a small one-room apartment on the outskirts, you will have to pay at least 4,500,000 rubles. In New Moscow you can find something cheaper, but in terms of infrastructure it’s not Moscow at all. At the same time, an apartment at that price will definitely have to undergo renovations, and major repairs at that - apartments in residential condition will cost you much more. If you want to buy a one-room apartment closer to the center (depending on the area), count on at least 6,000,000 rubles.

Saint Petersburg . Housing here, compared to the capital, is much cheaper - if you wish, you can buy a small one-room apartment far from the center for about 1,500,000 rubles.

In other cities of the country, the cost of housing varies, somewhere - half a million rubles for a one-room apartment, and somewhere - two and a half. On average, the minimum level fluctuates around 900,000 rubles.

Level of Russian salaries and apartment prices


With a salary like this, it's time to beg

But the level of our salaries for the most part seems even ridiculous if you compare it with the cost of real estate. A young man in Moscow working in a more or less decent position can earn on average about 50,000 rubles. In general, for the capital of Russia, calculating is not an easy task. Two people with the same education and working in the same positions can easily receive amounts with a difference of tens of thousands of rubles. On the street you can easily meet both a Muscovite with an income of 30,000 rubles, and a resident with an income of half a million (or more).

In other cities the situation is, naturally, worse. For example, in St. Petersburg, at the initial stage you should hardly count on an amount higher than 35,000 rubles (unless you are a unique specialist in a certain field), and it is not a fact that even after a few years you will overcome this level. In regional capitals, the average salary drops even lower - a young man can count on approximately 25,000 rubles.

For Moscow: 100,000 (total monthly family income) – 50,000 (living expenses) = 50,000 rubles. This is how much you can save every month. In a year, in this situation, you will get 600,000 rubles. In total, you will have to save up to buy the worst one-room apartment on the secondary market without repair: 4,500,000 / 600,000 = 7.5 years. Please note that during this period you will most likely have to forget about buying your own car, having a good holiday abroad, or adding to your family.

For regional cities the situation is approximately the same: 40,000 (approximate family income) – 30,000 (living expenses) = 10,000 rubles in the balance. Per year – 120,000 rubles. We divide 900,000 by 240,000 and get the same 7.5 years.

However, these are only approximate calculations, in which the family has a stable and good income and spends money only on the essentials. Naturally, in fact, this period increases significantly - many people save for housing for 10 or even 20 years. In order to significantly reduce this period, let's consider several ways that can positively affect your financial situation and help you save up for an apartment faster. The same tips will be relevant for other cases - for example, if you are interested, or for starting your own business.


Beautiful five-story building

How to save for an apartment - let's figure it out in order

Calculation of the amount required to purchase an apartment


View of the station in Moscow

First of all, you should at least approximately decide on the amount that you need to collect for the apartment.

  1. Decide what kind of apartment and in what area you want to buy. At the same time, keep in mind that primary housing (in a house currently under construction) will cost you much less, but purchasing it has a certain risk. You will not be able to immediately move into the purchased apartment - so this option is suitable for those who have a place to live while waiting - a room in an apartment with their parents, for example.
  1. Carefully review the currently existing offers for the sale of suitable options, writing out prices. In addition, try to find prices online for similar properties over the past few years. At the same time, also take into account that during the time that you will collect money for the purchase, this amount may increase, so add at least 10% to today's cost.
  1. Keep in mind that in addition to purchasing an apartment, it will need to be registered. Notary services (usually a fixed amount, which varies in different offices), payment of state fees, payment for real estate agency services - in total, add about another 3-5% to the total amount.
  1. Having bought an apartment, most likely you will want to renovate it to your taste and furnish it with your own household appliances and furniture. The amounts for such expenses may be different, depending on your requests and needs, so also calculate them at least approximately.

Once you are done with the calculations, you will receive an approximate amount (in today's prices) that you will need to get your own apartment, ready to move in. Don't be alarmed that it may turn out to be significantly higher than what you expected - below we will look at ways that will allow you to save more.

Saving money to buy a home


The view from the window of a future apartment is the main motivator

If you are planning to buy an apartment and do not intend to wait more than ten years, be prepared for the fact that you will have to tighten your belts, and not for a week or a month, but most likely for several years. However, your efforts will not be in vain - if you complete the following points after the deadline, you will become the happy owner of your own apartment.

  1. Get yourself a healthy habit y – keep daily records of expenses and income. Calculate the results for a week, a month. This way, you can have information about your exact financial status at any time and also analyze how you can reduce expenses. To keep such records, you can use either a regular paper notepad or an application for a computer or smartphone.
  1. You can quit smoking and alcohol- this, by the way, is useful, and spending on “bad” habits is a very serious part of the expenses. For example, you smoke one pack of cigarettes a day, your wife another half a pack. Let’s take the average cost of high-quality cigarettes – 50 rubles per pack. In total, every day you will cause serious harm to your health, while paying for it 75 rubles per day, 2,250 per month, 27,000 rubles (!) per year. Add to this the monthly cost of alcohol - for example, 2 times a week (Friday and Saturday) 2 liters of beer, costing 40 rubles each, will cost you 640 rubles per month, 7680 rubles per year. In total, by giving up bad habits, you can save almost 35,000 rubles annually.
  1. In addition to bad habits, you can also reduce the number of trips to entertainment venues. Clubs, bars, restaurants - all this takes up huge amounts of money. For example, if you go to a nightclub a couple of times a month, a couple more to a restaurant, and spend 1,000 rubles there (and usually this figure is much higher) - the result is 4,000 monthly or 48,000 per year. Of course, if it’s hard for you without such trips, you shouldn’t completely deny yourself the pleasure, but you need to at least reduce their cost. Alternatively, just take a certain amount with you so you don't overspend.
  1. Grocery shopping actually cost us much more than they actually could. When you go to a supermarket to buy food, the first thing you go to is the non-essential sections. This could be dishes, toys, magazines and books, small items for design and interior design, and so on, and only then are the products you really need placed. This is done deliberately so that the buyer succumbs to fleeting temptations and makes unplanned purchases. To avoid such expenses, plan your shopping list in detail and strictly follow it, and also take a limited amount of money with you. The amounts saved may vary, but you can certainly save at least a thousand rubles a month (or 12,000 a year).
  1. Buy food products at wholesale stores- their cost here is lower than in stores and on the market, and significantly. A kilogram of fruit, which will cost you 100 rubles at retail, here will cost about 75-80, for example. Here you can purchase long-lasting products - canned food, some types of fruits and vegetables, sugar, coffee and tea, cereals, pasta, and so on. The amount of money saved depends on your needs, but for approximate calculations we will take 1,000 rubles per month, or 12,000 per year, as the minimum level. Ours will help you.
  1. If you are currently renting an apartment, and chose not the cheapest option - think about whether it would be convenient for you to move to a less expensive home, or even to live with your parents. For example, if you live in Moscow, then you will spend at least 30,000 rubles to rent a one-room apartment. By moving in with your parents for a year, you can save 360,000 rubles.
  1. Analyze the rest of your monthly expenses- perhaps they can be shortened too. For example, you visit an expensive gym with beautiful machines and smiling trainers. However, next to your house there is an inconspicuous basement where sporty-looking men gather in the evenings, and the cost of monthly classes there is half as much. As in the previous paragraphs, savings depend on your expenses.

If you approach planning your own finances and saving money wisely, you can save significant amounts a year and save money for your apartment much faster. For example, let’s calculate how much money we will be able to save if we adhere to all of the above points:

  • refusal of alcohol and cigarettes – 35,000 rubles per year;
  • entertainment – ​​48,000 rubles per year;
  • savings on purchases in supermarkets – 12,000 per year;
  • savings on purchases at wholesale stores - 12,000 per year;
  • savings on other expense items – for example, let’s take another 12,000 per year.

In total, we get almost 120,000 rubles in savings per year, and this is without taking into account additional savings if you rent a house and decide to move to a cheaper apartment - you must agree, a very, very considerable amount.

Attention! The above calculations are indicative, based on the average and approximate amounts that an average two-person family spends. In your case, this figure may be radically different - for example, if you don’t smoke anyway, then, naturally, you no longer have an additional expense item.

Ways to increase income for buying an apartment


Perhaps a site is already being prepared somewhere for your future apartment in a new building

Saving money alone won't get you far - and a more important factor that will allow you to bring your purchase closer is increasing your income. Even those who already spend all their time and energy on work should not despair - with the right approach, you will need very little time to increase your own profit. Let's consider the most profitable and current options.

  1. Try to figure out how you can earn extra income using the knowledge you have. You can take students (teachers are people who know foreign languages ​​or programming languages), carry out orders in their free time (working professions), consult (doctors, lawyers).
  1. Choose and study an additional profession. This could be a foreign language, programming, writing texts to order. Firstly, it will not take much of your time, and secondly, you can study right at work, if you have a couple of free hours and a computer (tablet, smartphone). In the future, you will be able to receive a good income - a considerable number of people have now made such types of income their main source of profit.
  1. Improve your professional skills and try to climb the career ladder. After all, the higher the position held, the higher the salary, naturally.
  1. Remember what you were interested in before and what you were good at. Perhaps you are a talented artist - then you can work, create logos, advertising signs, do tattoos or airbrushing. Or you get along well with people, are sociable and open - then you can try yourself as a wedding toastmaster. Or maybe you’re an excellent photographer, but your favorite DSLR is gathering dust on a shelf at home - custom photographs also bring in a good income.

Ways to increase capital and other tricks

The money you save can become a source of passive income in itself. They should not lie like dead weight - because this way their value will only decrease as a result of inflation. And the right investment of funds will allow you not only to save up for an apartment, but also to regularly receive a stable and high income, which will allow you not to work for the rest of your life.

  1. This is not the first year deposits of funds in bank deposits are one of the most stable and common options for increasing capital. Among the numerous offers of all existing banks for 2015, on average you can receive about 15% of the invested funds per year (in Russian rubles). This figure may vary depending on the conditions and your relationship with the bank. For example, you can get bank deposits at maximum interest rates if you are already a long-time and trusted client of a company with a positive reputation. An excellent option for those who have an official and stable income. Now there are conditions that allow you to increase the invested amount monthly, thereby further increasing the result.
  1. Mortgage. In essence, this is the same loan, but issued for a long term, at more favorable interest rates and with a high limit. Suitable, again, only for those who have official employment and a stable income. Moreover, the answer to the question - is it profitable to take out a mortgage - in the overwhelming majority of cases is negative. Considerable interest will force you to overpay, often two or even more times. Moreover, if you lose, even briefly, your source of income, serious problems may arise, including the bank repossessing the purchased home. If you are seriously considering this option, read.
  1. Bank loan- far from the most profitable option. Firstly, you are unlikely to be given such a large amount that will be enough to buy a home, so it is only relevant if you lack a certain amount of money. Considerable interest, a significant overpayment in the end, the need for official employment - all this makes even a loan from the “people's” Sberbank not the most profitable option.
  1. Investment in NPF(non-state pension fund) in terms of profitability is not much different from the usual opening of a bank deposit. The most profitable NPFs can provide you with about 8-10%. This option is good for its stability, but if you want to save up for housing as quickly as possible, it’s unlikely to be suitable.
  1. Investment in mutual fund(mutual fund) is one of the most profitable ways to invest money. Having relatively high stability and reliability, it can provide you with the highest annual interest rates (compared to bank offers) - up to 30-60%.
  1. Investing in Forex trading. A very risky method that can give you good results (good PAMM account managers make a stable average of 4-5% per month). The disadvantage is that it is impossible to calculate how much income you will receive in the next month or in the year as a whole, and whether there will be any at all, or you will lose your hard-earned money.
  1. Renting your own residential property. Suitable if you already have an apartment, but would like to buy a better option. For example, you live in a two-room apartment, but are planning to have a child, and want to buy a three-room spacious home. In this case, you can rent out your property and rent a cheaper option for the desired period or move in with your parents.
  1. If you have your own car, however, you don’t drive it very often - you can put it on. Income directly depends on the prices that exist in your region, but in any case it is a considerable amount. The disadvantage of this method is that as a result you will receive back a car with significantly increased mileage (which reduces its price), or one that requires serious repairs. You can receive 10-15 thousand additional income per month, this is very significant if you need an inexpensive apartment.
  1. Investment in business(including Internet projects) will be of interest to those people who have an entrepreneurial spirit and significant experience in this field. However, there are also many disadvantages - firstly, you can easily go broke, and secondly, serious profits often begin to come only after a while, and if you want to increase your capital in order to save for housing in 3 years, then it is better to choose another method .

Listed above are only the most profitable, stable and effective methods of increasing capital.. In order to avoid possible problems, it is best to invest funds in several ways at once, distributing them. Eg, if you have 500,000 rubles, You can:

  1. Place 300,000 rubles on a bank deposit at 10% per annum. As a result, without doing absolutely anything, in a year you will receive 330,000 rubles.
  2. Divide the remaining 200,000 rubles equally between two mutual funds. One, for example, will bring you 15% of income, the second - 20%, in a year you will receive: 115,000 + 120,000 = 235,000 rubles.

Thus, by spending just a couple of days choosing a suitable bank and mutual funds and concluding agreements, in a year you can turn 500,000 rubles, which would have been lying around like a dead weight, into 565,000 rubles. Naturally, if the investment amount was larger, then you will receive a higher income.

By reading the information above and taking it into account, you can significantly reduce the time it will take you to purchase a home.

Calculations for example - how to save for an apartment in 3 years from scratch


How to save for an apartment

As an example, we give the following calculations (for a family of two people living in Moscow in a rented apartment for 30,000 rubles). Our goal is to save up for an apartment in Moscow in 3 years.

First year

Your monthly family income is 110,000 rubles (1,320,000 per year), of which 60,000 (720,000 per year) goes to living costs.

The apartment you want to buy costs 7,500,000 rubles. For additional expenses and a possible price increase, we will add another 1,500,000 - a total of 9,000,000 rubles.

After analyzing your own expenses, you were able to reduce them to 600,000 rubles, so you can save 720,000 rubles per year.

You moved in with your parents for 2 years (in Moscow, without changing your job or income) - this allowed you to save another 360,000 rubles each year. In total, in the first year you saved 1,080,000 rubles.

Second year

During this time, your wife started working on the Internet (writing articles or running her own blog), and from the second year she receives an additional 15,000 rubles, you learned a programming language, and have, for example, the same 15,000 rubles from . Thus, your total monthly income is now 140,000 rubles (per year - 1,680,000), of which you will save 1,320,000 rubles.

Of the 1,080,000 rubles that you were able to save in the first year, you put 500,000 rubles in the bank at 10% per annum. In total, in the second year they increased to 560,000 rubles.

Of the remaining amount, you invested 300,000 rubles in one mutual fund, which gave an annual income of 15%. Total – 345,000 rubles.

You invested the rest - 280,000 rubles - in another mutual fund, which brought you 20% per annum. As a result, you received 336,000 rubles.

In total, thanks to investment, your 1,080,000 rubles in the second year turned into 1,241,000 rubles. Adding to this the funds earned from regular work (1,320,000 rubles), you get 2,321,000 rubles - already enough for an apartment in the regions.

Third year

Let’s assume that in the second year you achieved an increase (+5,000 rubles to your salary), and your wife’s income increased, for example, by the same 5,000 rubles per month. In total, this year you receive 150,000 rubles per month. However, you moved from your parents to rented housing, which increases your expenses by 30,000 rubles.

As a result, in a year you will already receive 1,800,000 rubles, of which you spend 600,000 on accommodation. In total, you will be able to save 1,200,000 rubles for an apartment.

You invested the amount received over two years of work and investment (2,321,000 rubles).

This time, you allocated 1,000,000 rubles for a bank deposit at 10% per year, which by the end of the term will turn into 1,100,000 rubles.

Of the remaining amount (for convenience, let's round up to 1,300,000) you invested 300,000 rubles in a mutual fund, which gave an income of 15% - a total of 345,000 for the year.

You invested another 500,000 rubles in another mutual fund, which brought you another 10% income, returning you 550,000 rubles.

The rest – 500,000 rubles – you invested in several successful Forex traders. In total, the income amounted to, for example, another 15% per year. The total result was 575,000 rubles.

Let's summarize the result of investing for the third year: your capital increased to 2,570,000, in addition to this you earned another 1,200,000. In total, in the third year you collected 3,770,000 rubles - more than a third of the cost of the housing that you initially chose.


The dream has come true, the apartment is yours!

For the money you receive, you can already buy a small one-room apartment on the outskirts. If you are happy with this option, congratulations! In just 3 years, you were able to save up for your own housing (even if not the best) in Moscow. By the way, if it is not important for you to buy real estate in the capital, for this amount you can already buy a spacious apartment in any regional center of Russia.

If you want to achieve a higher goal (save for an apartment in Moscow in a good area worth 9,000,000 rubles) - the essence remains the same. We will not bore the reader with further calculations - the principle is clear. Let us only remind you that the figures given above are approximate and may differ for each person.

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