With a new «Home» The government is moving up to the ECH, as after the closure of the second cycle with 14,114 signed housing loans, interest now turns to the next generation of the program.
The Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has already left it open «window» for a third cycle, while on the table are a new financial model, more beneficiaries and newer Real estate that will exceed today «cutter» of 2007.
The political signal has been given. The Prime Minister, speaking in July about the two programmes «Home», had left open the possibility of a third cycle, however setting features «an asterisk or a reservation». Now, with The «Home II» completed on 31 August and the housing is high on the government agenda in view of ITH, the interest turns to whether Kyriakos Mitsotakis will open his papers more for the next generation of cheap housing loans.
The National Strategy for Housing Policy 2026-2035, which has been approved and is the government road map for the next decade, includes as a new proposed measure «Program Extension My Home»The intervention has a budget of EUR 500 million and is estimated to be about 16,000 beneficiaries, and it also describes a different mechanism for financing cheap housing loans.
The debate on the next cycle opens immediately after the completion of the «Home II»The contractualisation of the programme closed on 31 August, with 15,097 approved loans totalling EUR 1.82 billion, corresponding to 94,5% of the total budget.
Finally 14,114 loan contracts signed, totaling EUR 1.54 billion, and through the programme, real estate markets worth over EUR 2.15 billion were mobilised. The average approved loan was EUR 120,400 and total public support reached EUR 943,2 million.
The evidence shows at the same time what the profile of households that used the program was. 66.6% of beneficiaries had an annual income of up to 24,000 euros, while the average income was set at 21,130 euros. The average age was 38 years and 41% of the beneficiaries were up to 36 years old.
The «key» 2007
One of the most important changes on the table for a new cycle concerns the reservoir of properties. The «Home II» set specific restrictions, with a maximum commercial property value of 250,000 euros, an area of up to 150 sq.m. and a specific age limit for the residence.
The limited supply of suitable properties was one of the main problems in implementing the programme, particularly in areas where prices have increased significantly. So one of the scenarios considered for his next generation «Home» is to open the perimeter to newer dwellings, moving today's timeline «cutter» and allowing the incorporation of real estate after 2007.
Such a change could significantly increase the number of houses available, but it remains for the time being part of the design and not a finalized term of a new programme.
More beneficiaries
On the table is also the expansion of the perimeter of beneficiaries. The scenarios set provide more flexible income criteria, so that they can join households which currently remain outside because they exceed marginal income limits.
There is also a similar debate on age criteriaHowever, without having locked up any particular change so far. The question is that a next circle should be given a greater perimeter, without losing sight of young people, couples and families who find it difficult to obtain first residence on market terms.
The new 500m-euro model
The biggest question about «Home 3» is funding, as the «Home II» it was based to a significant extent on the resources of the Recovery Fund. For the next day, however, the National Strategy for Housing Policy describes a different model.
Instead of a direct interest subsidy from national or Community resources, tax relief is provided for financial institutions when they grant housing loans at a reduced rate to eligible beneficiaries.
In simple terms, in the model described in the Strategy State support is transferred from direct interest subsidies to tax incentives to banks, in order to offer lower interest rates to beneficiaries. This is how it seeks to create a more permanent mechanism for cheap housing loans, which will not depend solely on exceptional European financial resources.
This does not mean that it has already been decided that «Home 3» It will work just with this model. It is, however, now an official direction of the National Strategy for its expansion. «My Home» and gives a first picture of how the next generation of the program could be funded.
With «Home II» to have now closed, the pieces left to «button» they concern the exact financing mechanism, the new income and age limits, the amount of the loan and, in particular, how much the reservoir of eligible properties will open beyond the current time limit.
