Romania’s Finance Ministry wants to supplement with RON 500 million (EUR 112 million) the ceiling for the First House program, which would allow local banks to resume mortgage lending under this program.

This would be the second time the Finance Ministry increases the funds allotted to the First House program this year.

From the beginning of this year until July 31 some 23,515 guarantees totaling EUR 485.5 million were granted. These guarantees allowed banks to grant mortgage loans worth over EUR 970 million, as the guarantees cover half of the loans’ value for loans up to EUR 60,000.

The First House program was launched in 2009 to stimulate banks to resume mortgage lending and to help the real estate and construction sectors recover after the crisis. Since then, over 195,900 guarantee, totaling over EUR 3.75 billion have been granted.

The default rate for the program’s beneficiaries currently amounts to 0.3%.

editor@romania-insider.com