According to sources from banking circles, banks that are not owned by the state, and there are significantly more of them in Serbia, will have to include loans for young people in their offer, but they will not approve them or the approvals will be reduced to a minimum.
Bank Postal Savings Bank was the first to sign a housing program agreement with the Ministry of Finance of Serbia loans for youth. For the other banks, which may have been undecided in the previous weeks, there are still 30 days left to declare whether they will join this program, which is guaranteed by the Government of Serbia. Although bankers were initially unenthusiastic about the terms, particularly the one percent down payment, most lenders now say they will agree to extend their credit offer, Aleksandra Nenadović writes for The new economy.
"Poštanska štedionica is the first bank that participates in the program of providing cheap housing loans for young people. We sent such contracts to all other banks and invited them to participate in this program," said Finance Minister Siniša Mali.
As he said, the data from the Bank Poštanska štedionica that, in just 24 hours, 546 young people expressed interest in participating in the program is particularly encouraging.
Other banks are also part of the program
The other bankers we contacted generally said that they will become part of the program by which the state tries to help young people, but that they all need more time to prepare the project and include it in the offer.
"Considering that we have a large participation of young people among our clients, we try to always offer solutions that suit them and that are in demand. Accordingly, we can say that we are interested in participating in the current program related to housing loans for young people and we are currently in the analysis process for this product. Unfortunately, we cannot specify when we will be able to confirm whether it will be part of Erste Bank's offer," they told Nova Ekonomija in this bank.
We received an answer from Raiffeisen Bank that in principle they agree to be part of the project, but that they need time for the preparation and the whole process, and they cannot say with certainty when it will be official. And Unikredit Bank is ready to participate in favorable loans for young people.
According to our sources from banking circles, banks that are not owned by the state, and there are significantly more of them in Serbia, will have to include this type of loan in their offer, but they will not approve them or the approvals will be reduced to a minimum. The Postal Savings Bank is owned by the state.
Unlimited loans
The maximum loan amount is 100.000 euros and one percent of the down payment. Loans can be taken by all young people between the ages of 20 and 35 who are citizens of Serbia and reside in the country.
There are no restrictions on the location of the property, the amount of the loan and the price per square meter. As Mali said, an individual can take more money than 100.000 euros, but the state guarantees the amount up to 100.000 euros.
These loans will also be available to those who do not have permanent employment. Those who are employed on an indefinite or fixed term, as well as those who are unemployed, will be able to apply for them, but they must have a guarantor from their family who is creditworthy.
The minister also explained that whoever takes a loan of 75.000 euros pays 750 euros as a down payment, and pays only 93 euros per month in the first year, which is far less than the price of renting an apartment, while the state subsidizes 124 euros every month.
"From the second to the sixth year, the one who took a loan of 75.000 euros pays 175 euros per month, which is again much less than the rental price, and the state also adds 124 euros to it every month," Mali said.
He added that from the sixth year, the interest rate is 3,5 percent, which today is around 340 euros, because it is assumed that the young people will already be independent by then.
The idea for this type of housing loan came from the top of the state, in the midst of demonstrations and blockades by the student population, which has been protesting for more than three months now, demanding a transparent and full investigation into the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 15 people. The students did not react to this offer, except that they repeatedly repeated that the demands were still not met.
Source: New Economy
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