Romania's Prima Casa state guarantees to continue as purely social programme

The Prima Casa ("First House") programme under which the state guarantees part of the mortgage loans contracted by families buying their first house, will continue because it proved beneficial to the economy, finance minister Eugen Teodorovici said on January 6 for local TV station Antena 3. But the programme will be defined as part of a social agenda. "We will continue to earmark funds for Prima Casa programme because it was very useful for the economy. I do not know exactly the amount [to be earmarked this year], but in January you will see exactly how much we will earmark," Teodorovici said. Asked whether there would be an age or income ceiling, the head of Finance said he does not want to anticipate, because he is not aware of all the details. "If something changes […] there will be such legislative changes that are transparently published on the ministry’s site for consultations, but we will certainly continue with this programme in 2019, too," Teodorovici stressed. The programme was particularly instrumental in supporting the financial intermediation at a time when, during the past years, the corporate segment of the credit market has been less dynamic. According to a draft government ordinance published on the Finance Ministry’s website, the ceiling for the first house budget for 2019 is RON 2 billion (EUR 430 million), similar to the total guarantee ceiling in 2018. Residential properties’ prices to stagnate in Romania as Prima Casa is phased out – research editor@romania-insider.com