Finding an apartment in Barcelona is a horrible odyssey. For this reason, the government seems to want to get down to work, and has announced aids for the purchase of apartments for young people that can help, at least in part, to begin to combat the problem.
They are the “Préstecs Emancipació”, aids to the purchase of apartments for young people that will finance up to 20% of the price of the apartment without interest.
The Councilor for Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, said that “these loans are a pioneering product in Spain and respond to an objective that we have set as a government: that public-private collaboration is a way of working to join forces and reach more citizens”.
How do these grants work?
It’s really as simple as that: the Government finances 20% of the price, which is usually the equivalent of the down payment on an apartment, without interest. This makes it easier to overcome the main obstacle when it comes to accessing housing: the initial sum of money to even start looking for a house.
This 20%, obviously, has to be paid back, but it does not start to be paid until the mortgage is paid off and it is paid back without interest.
The rest of the amount of the apartment, that remaining 80%, is that the is paid with a conventional mortgage at the bank.
In this way, the buyers “only have to” pay the taxes for the purchase of the property, which represent 5% for people up to 35 years of age.
Who is eligible?
People under 35 years old.
What type of housing can be purchased?
The idea is that this plan will work with second-hand housing, something very common in cities like Barcelona, and that the beneficiaries will be young people buying for the first time.
In total, the Generalitat will allocate 500 million euros until 2029 to help more young people to become independent without having to wait to inherit.
Apartments that become subsidized housing
These grants have one condition: the homes purchased with this loan will become part of the protected public housing stock permanently.
This means that if one day you decide to sell it, you will not be able to do so at the price of gold: there will be a ceiling set by the administration. In this way, it helps to expand the protected housing stock of the future, “introducing” houses from the private market into the protected housing stock.