DULIC: Down payment for apartment purchased with subsidized loan set at 5 percent

(Oliver Dulic)

Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic announced today that the down payment for an apartment purchased with a loan subsidized by the state would amount to 5 percent, adding that the upper age limit would be relaxed for all those who would like to take out such loan to buy an apartment.

As a guest speaker on the national TV station RTS, Dulic said that the state would be enabled in that way to help many people buy an apartment, stressing that there were many families in Serbia who had been impatiently expecting such measure.

He stated that the down payment and the question of interest rates would be among the topics for discussion between the Serbian government and the National Bank of Serbia at a meeting dedicated to the new package of anti crisis measures.

- If that happens, it will be excellent. What we are going to do is help people as long as that measure is in effect by granting them a subsidized loan and, practically, providing them with the money for the mandatory down payment through that loan - the minister explained.

- That is the first thing we are going to do, and the next is to expand the circle of people who have access to these subsidized loans, that is, to relax the age limit - Dulic added.

The minister pointed out that the state had earmarket RSD 1.2 billion in the new budget for that purpose.

- If it turns out that the demand is higher, we will carry out a revision of the budget to provide additional money for that purpose. Therefore, anyone who meets these requirements and wants to buy an apartment will be able to use the government's subventions - said the minister.

As Dulic explained, the Ministry of Economy had been in charge of all activities related to subsidized housing loans until this year, but that is now a responsibility of the ministry he runs.