The scheme started by the Government nearly two years ago inorder to revive the construction sector and the economy, has turnedinto a social one that has supported banks, put an end to the pricedecline, and enabled 40,000 Romanians to buy homes with lowdown-payments, but at interest rates that even multinationals inRomania can get for their employees. But the fourth variant of thescheme is very likely to be the last, writes BUSINESS CONSTRUCTmagazine, in its May issue.
The relaunch did not come in the first two years, consideringthat the construction market fell by 25% during this interval, andaround 15% was wiped off the GDP. In the meantime, the state hasguaranteed loans for home acquisitions worth over 1.6 billioneuros, whose final "bill" will come due in 20-30 years' time.
Between July 2009 and February 2011, the population's depositsrose by around 2.7 billion euros. How much of the money guaranteedas part of the First home scheme returned to the banks? There areno data available, but while banks were granting risk-free loans atan interest of 5.5-6% through the First home scheme, depending onEURIBOR, interests on deposits in euros reached 3.3% onaverage.
In other words, this has proven a good scheme for banks, all themore since real estate/mortgage lending in the last two years hasbeen largely based on this programme: in the past two years theoverall number of mortgage/real estate loans went up by around40,000-50,000 to 210,000, according to the Credit Bureau, withnearly 40,000 loans being granted through the First homescheme.
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