Gov't to reduce interest on loans, introduce rental for POS flats

The Croatian government on Thursday forwarded to Parliament amendments to the law on government-subsidised housing construction whereby it proposes lower interest rates for mortgage loans for the purchase of flats from the government's housing construction scheme (so-called POS flats) and the introduction of a possibility to rent such flats.

There are currently two ways to pay loans for these units: one part is paid to commercial banks and part of that goes to cover the amount that the government absorbed from its own funds. The second part, which has a grace period, is charged a 2% interest rate which, under one of the proposed amendments, would be reduced to 1% and the interest rate where the government engages its funds would be reduced from 5% to 3%.

Construction and Zoning Minister Anka Mrak Taritas said that, for instance, a 60-square-metre flat sold under the POS scheme would be 15.3% or some 15,000 euros cheaper than a flat of the same size on the free market.

The other amendment relates to flat rental, namely the possibility to enable the renting of some of the POS flats at acceptable prices, Mrak Taritas said.

(Hina) rml

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