The Program for Encouraged Sales of Newly Built Apartments Begins

The program for encouraging the sale of newly built apartments in the ‘POS plus’ market starts tomorrow, and it can be participated in by Croatian citizens who are buying an apartment for the first or some other time, announced the Minister of Construction and Spatial Planning, Anka Mrak Taritaš.

Through the POS plus program, the state, according to her, aims to ‘unfreeze’ the sale of 20,000 new apartments and thereby assist builders and buyers, but also benefit itself through VAT collection.

New apartments can be purchased through POS plus directly from investors, contractors, or legal entities in the VAT system, with proper ownership documentation and which has a usage permit.

The maximum purchase price for which a loan is approved is 1,400 euros per square meter of usable apartment area including VAT.

Regardless of the purchase price, the public funds loan is always 200 euros per square meter. The condition is that the buyer secures a deposit of 15 percent of the purchase price of the apartment.

The program works in such a way that the buyer finds an apartment on the market and then approaches banks participating in POS plus, of which there are currently 13, including all the largest banks operating in Croatia.

After an agreement with one of the banks, the documentation is sent to the Agency for Legal Transactions and Real Estate Mediation (APN), which makes a decision on the approval of the public funds loan.

This is followed by loan agreements with the bank and with APN for public incentive funds. Both loans have a currency clause in euros.

The Ministry highlights the advantages of the program as a more favorable interest rate compared to commercial ones, monthly savings on installments, and total savings in the amount paid upon completion of repayment.

Using the example of purchasing an apartment of 60 square meters at a price of 1,400 euros per square meter, the Ministry shows how the monthly installment of a loan taken for 31 years in POS plus, with an interest rate of 3.95 percent, compared to a commercial loan with an interest rate of 6.9 percent, is lower by 132 euros, and the difference in the total amount paid upon completion of repayment is lower by 49,000 euros or 28 percent.

The buyer first repays the commercial part of the loan, and then the part of the loan from incentive funds.

In APN, an initial amount of 50 million kuna has been reserved for the implementation of the project. Depending on interest, this amount may change, they say in the Ministry.

APN will process and approve requests for incentive funds as they arrive, thus without ranking lists and additional criteria.

Information about POS plus can be obtained by citizens on the APN website or by direct inquiry at banks.