Romania prepares higher funding for First House program

Romania’s Finance Ministry considers supplementing the funds available for the First House lending program by RON 500 million (EUR 109 million), as banks have already used almost entirely the current ceiling, according to market sources cited by local Profit.ro. If this year’s amount is supplemented, it will exceed last year’s. The financing ceiling allocated for the first months of this year amounts to RON 2.5 billion (EUR 548 million). The state also added some RON 175.5 million (EUR 38 million) to the financing ceiling, which was left unused from 2016. The state-backed First House program remains attractive for those who want to buy a home on credit, mainly because the down payment amounts to only 5%. The program has recently reached a record number of requests, with more than 600 new applications submitted daily, according to the National Credit Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (FNGCIMM). editor@romania-insider.com