APN will accept subsidy applications until April 22

The Agency for Legal Transactions and Real Estate Mediation (APN) will accept applications for subsidizing housing loans as part of the seventh call until Friday, April 22, and has so far received 3,568 applications

Applications received by APN by April 22, 2022, at 4 PM, will be considered based on the time of receipt of complete applications at APN, and will be approved until the planned funds are exhausted, as stated in the announcement regarding the cessation of subsidizing housing loans, published on Wednesday on APN’s website.

The planned funds for this measure this year amount to 50 million kuna.

The Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property separately announced on its website that APN has received 3,568 applications for subsidizing housing loans as of yesterday. So far, 1,400 of them have been processed, of which 1,372 applications have been approved, 25 are pending completion, two have been rejected, while one applicant has withdrawn.

From a sample of 400 processed applications, the average amount of the subsidized housing loan is 78 thousand euros, the average repayment period for the requested loans is 22 years, and the average age of loan users is 32 years.

The effective interest rate averages 2.08 percent, the amount of the average monthly annuity that users will repay is 3,035 kuna, of which the monthly subsidy amounts to 1,020 kuna, APN reported.

The submission of subsidy applications in this round began on March 21, and at a press conference held on that occasion, the Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property Ivan Paladina presented an estimate, based on previous experiences, that this year, with the help of the subsidy program, around 4,500 new families could resolve their housing issues.

APN signed contracts with 14 banks

Let us remind you, APN signed contracts with 14 banks on March 4 for the provision of subsidized housing loans, with the highest effective interest rates offered by banks ranging from 1.99 to 3.50 percent.

The Law on Subsidizing Housing Loans enables the subsidization of the monthly amount of the installment or annuity for loan users for housing loans that citizens take from credit institutions for the purchase of an apartment or house, or for the construction of a house, all for the purpose of resolving housing issues.

The state subsidy is granted for the first five years of loan repayment, with the possibility of extending for two years for each live-born or adopted child during the loan subsidy period.

Extension of subsidies for an additional year for each child is also allowed for families that already have children at the time of application, as well as in cases where the applicant or a member of their household has a disability of more than 50 percent of physical impairment.

Thus, this measure can be utilized by all citizens of the Republic of Croatia who are under 45 years old and who do not own an apartment or house. Subsidizing loans is approved for the purchase of an apartment or house, or for the construction of a house up to a maximum of 1,500 euros per square meter or up to a maximum loan amount of 100 thousand euros in kuna equivalent, with the loan repayment period not being shorter than 15 years.

The amount of the subsidy depends on the development index of the place where the property is purchased or built, ranging from 30 to 51 percent of the loan installment amount. The largest subsidies are granted to those who buy an apartment or house or build a house in the least developed areas, while 30 percent of the monthly loan installment goes to those who have decided to buy or build property in urban centers such as Zagreb. 

The housing loan subsidy program has been implemented since 2017, and so far more than 22 thousand applications have been approved.