Azerbaijan.US
For many Azerbaijanis, mortgage lending remains the primary path to homeownership. Among available options, the subsidized 4% mortgage is widely seen as the most affordable. In practice, however, access to the program is far more limited than its headline rate suggests.
Economist Rashad Hasanov notes that demand for subsidized mortgages far exceeds available supply. While thousands of applicants meet the formal eligibility criteria, the volume of funding allocated to the program is insufficient to accommodate them all, effectively turning the process into a competitive selection.
According to Hasanov, the system would benefit from more targeted parameters. He argues that applicants’ actual housing conditions should play a greater role in determining priority, ensuring that families with the most acute needs are not crowded out by better-positioned borrowers.
Another concern raised by experts is the use of subsidized mortgages for investment purposes. In some cases, loans intended to improve housing conditions for socially vulnerable groups are instead used to acquire additional properties, reducing the program’s social impact.
Data from Azerbaijan’s Mortgage and Credit Guarantee Fund highlights the scale of demand. In 2025, more than 5,300 applications for subsidized mortgages were submitted through the Electronic Mortgage and Credit Guarantee System.
During the same year, 156 subsidized mortgage loans were issued, totaling 95.6 million manats. Between 2007 and 2025, authorized banks issued more than 18,000 subsidized mortgages worth 1.42 billion manats under the program.
As a result, the 4% mortgage exists in policy terms but remains a scarce resource in practice. Without more precise targeting and eligibility controls, experts warn that the program may continue to fall short of its intended social objectives.
