In April, the share of respondents who consider the current time to be good for making large purchases increased to 24% (in November 2020, it was 20%). The number of respondents who note an improvement in their own financial situation over the past year increased in April to 17% (in November it was 11%). At the same time, the number of respondents who noted the deterioration of the situation is 37%.

The consumer recovery noted in subjective estimates may affect interest in loans. As of April 2021, more than a third of Russians (35%) or their family members have outstanding consumer or mortgage loans. Representatives of the younger generation and residents of small towns take out loans somewhat more often. Muscovites and representatives of older generations have fewer loans.

Respondents who note the deterioration of their financial situation tend to have loans more often (42%). The share of respondents with loans is also slightly higher (within the statistical margin of error) among the least well-off groups. This circumstance indicates a large share of forced loans, which are probably issued for a short period , “up to salary”.

At the same time, more than 60% of respondents who have loans are experiencing difficulties with their repayment, a fifth are experiencing serious difficulties, 2% are unable to pay off loans. 35% do not experience difficulties with repayment of loans. Respondents who noted the deterioration of their financial situation over the past year are more likely to say that they have problems with paying off loans (35%, 23% on average in the country).

The most often preferred ways of storing savings among Russians are rubles in a bank account (31%), real estate (30%) and cash rubles (22%). Less than 10% of Russians prefer savings in foreign currency, securities or cryptocurrencies.

Muscovites tend to consider real estate the best asset, while residents of small settlements prefer to keep savings in bank accounts. There are no differences depending on the size of cities.

Respondents who noted the deterioration of their financial situation over the past year more often believe that it is better to keep money in real estate and in cash rubles than those whose situation has improved. This indicates a high level of fear of losing savings and low confidence in the banking system in this group of respondents.

This survey was conducted April 22 – 28 2021, among a representative sample of all Russian urban and rural residents. The sample was comprised of 1614 people aged 18 or older in 137 municipalities of 50 regions of the Russian Federation. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The answer distribution is presented as percentages of the total number of participants along with data from previous surveys.

The statistical error of these studies for a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:

3.4% for indicators around 50%

2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%

2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%

1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%

The ANO Levada Center has been included in the registry of non-commercial organizations acting as foreign agents.