Only 34 "First Home" applications approved in three weeks

Almost three weeks from the start of the “First home” programme, whose target is to unfreeze retail credit and the real estate market, the Guarantee Fund has analysed and approved merely 34 applications for guarantees, an insignificant number, if one considers the hundreds of applications expected. In the meantime, the Government has yet to publish its decision, adopted last week, to modify the guarantee convention, and allow already mortgaged apartments to be included in the programme – the majority of new apartments in residential complexes are placed under mortgage. Six large banks, among which BCR, Raiffeisen and UniCredit have voiced their interest to join the programme under the new terms. “The decision has yet to be sent to the Official Gazette. There are no more discussions on the text, the modifications have been approved in the Government meeting in the form proposed by the Guarantee Fund. However, it has to be countersigned by all ministers involved and by the Prime Minister,” Mirela Luca, with the Government’s Press Office, told ZF.