News on aid for the purchase of houses

Recently, the central government approved the ICO guarantees to facilitate the purchase of primary residences for young people under the age of 35 and families with dependent minors. This guarantee will allow financial institutions to grant mortgages of 100% of the purchase price, when the necessary income limit requirements are met. In this way, people with little savings, but with sufficient salaries, can access the purchase of a home by contributing only the costs of the sale and purchase.

In our daily life we find cases where, for example, a couple could pay a mortgage of 700 or 800 euros per month, since this is the approximate amount they are paying right now for rent, but because they do not have much savings, they cannot afford to buy a home.

In a scenario like the current one, with high rental incomes that are often higher than the mortgage payments, buying a home can be a way of saving, since part of the mortgage payment is interest and part is return of capital/savings.

Mortgage interest rates, although they have risen sharply and very rapidly, are still low enough to obtain attractive mortgage repayments. This is accompanied by a price war between banks and 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.

The government expects that this measure could facilitate access to housing for some 50,000 people, many of whom will exchange a rented property for a property of their own. Although the number of beneficiaries is not very large, and it will not have a great impact on solving the housing problem, I think that any initiative that allows people to be a little better off is very welcome.

My advice is that, if you are renting and you are thinking of buying a house, do the numbers first. That way you will know what mortgage payment you can afford and what is the maximum price you can afford to pay. The security in obtaining financing will allow you to better negotiate the purchase conditions.

Finally, there is an interesting detail to the regulations. If the property has an energy rating of D or higher, the guarantee can be extended to 25%. We have to get used to the fact, and we will see it more and more, that the regulations will encourage energy efficiency in housing, and that the investments we make in this sense will always be worthwhile.