The young families, whose members are younger than 45, work and have official incomes will be able to buy a home through the agency of the state program “First house” that was agreed by the legislative body in the first reading on December 1, IPN reports.

Minister of Finance Octavian Armasu said in Parliament that only houses that were finished and were made available for occupancy by the application submission date could be bought within the program. These should cost less than 1 million lei and the initial installment paid by the beneficiary will represent 10% of the price. Those who want to purchase a home through the program should not own a house and have unpaid home loans.

The program ensures the private individuals’ access to mortgages that will be partially guaranteed by the state. A sum of 20 million lei was earmarked in the 2018 state budget for the purpose.

The guarantees in the name of the state will be issued by the Organization for the Development of the Sector of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (ODIMM). The bank loans will be repayable in at most 25 years, in Moldovan lei. The monthly installment will not exceed 50% of the net official salary incomes of the family and the state will guarantee 50% of the loan. The beneficiaries will be unable to sell the purchased home during the first five months of the acquisition, if only the loan is paid off.

The interest rate hasn’t been specified, but Octavian Armasu assured that this will be by 1-1.5 percentage points lower than the rates on home loans set by banks.

The minister said that if a family with an average monthly income of 5,000 lei applies to purchase a home of €15,000, the monthly installment will not exceed 2,356 lei.

The program is to be adopted in the final reading.