Floors for Sareb and Defense would only cover 11% of Galician demand

A little more than two weeks before the elections, the Government continues to pile up announcements expansion of the public housing fund. And yesterday he did it by giving the green light for the purchase of land from the defense for construction 20,000 affordable homes across Spain. But that is not enough. The properties that the Sánchez executive will put at the service of Galicians for social housing will not be enough to alleviate the huge demand that exists in the community. As the unique register of Xunte shows, in January of this year there were a total of 16,023 applicants for social housing, a number that is almost ten times larger than the buildings built by Sareb and the Ministry of Transport They plan to make them available in the coming months.

In the province of A Coruña, for example, there are 4,062 applicants for social housing; while the one known as the bad bank has only 896 houses. Another 413 should be added to this number, which will be built on the land sold by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.

There are not enough of them in the other provinces either. For a sample, Pontevedra. There, Sareb will make 249 homes available to the Galician administration, and to that should be added 73 that will be built on defense land. There are a total of 322 of them, which does not even cover 4% of the demand for public housing in this area. In the other two provinces, the Ministry of Defense offer is non-existent. The inhabitants of Ourense have to make do with Sareb houses, of which in this case only 32 remain, in an area where there are more than 700 applications for public housing.

In Lugo, to the 108 apartments that the bad bank gave away, we have to add another 12 that correspond to the development of public housing construction carried out by the State Land Authority (Sepes), an agency dependent on the Ministry of Transport. Between these two plans, they add up to a total of 120 properties, which would cover just over 5% of the demand for social housing of Lugo residents, which amounts to 2,317 requests. In addition to approving the purchase of land from the defense to build 20,000 affordable homes across Spain, the Council of Ministers also approved another set of measures with the same goal, such as a national mortgage guarantee.

What does the guarantee consist of?

The ICO will guarantee 20% of the mortgage for people under 35 or families with dependent children. The warranty can be extended up to 25% if home It has a minimum energy rating of D. To receive assistance, each applicant must earn less than 37,800 euros per year. If there are two signatories, this limit would be multiplied to 75,600 euros. In the case of families, the income limit would increase by 0.3% for each child. And 70% if it is a single-parent family.

What is achieved?

Users will be able to get financing of up to 100% of the loan, compared to 80% of what — as a general rule — banks currently finance to buy a house.

How are they searched for?

The client will have to go to his own bank where he arranged the mortgage and ask for help. In other words, the Government will have to force the entities to comply with the agreement to offer these mortgages guaranteed by the ICO.

Will it apply to all homes?

Guarantees They can only be used for first homes of habitual residence, In addition, the delivery of guarantees will be limited to loans with a maximum amount. In other words, it will be decided who benefits from the warranty depending on the sale or appraised price and the area in which the house is located.

Will everyone who qualifies be able to access a mortgage?

Not. As these are public guarantees, they can be claimed by anyone who meets the requirements in terms of income, age or children. However, this does not imply mortgage insurance, as banks may retain the right to grant or not grant a loan, depending on the client’s profile. In other words, not because they have a 20% guarantee, they will give you a mortgage directly if the risk of future default is detected.

Guaranteed mortgages, will they be more expensive or cheaper?

“If we take into account that the Government will guarantee the return of 20 percent of the amount, it is logical to think that the conditions of these mortgage loans will not be worse”, they point out from HelpmyCash. However, as the mortgage will have a higher amount (100% instead of the usual maximum of 80%), the installments to be paid are expected to be more expensive.

What happens with similar assistance in other autonomous communities?

Some regions such as Madrid, Murcia or the Balearic Islands already offer public guarantees for mortgages. In principle, these subsidies will remain in force for those who cannot take advantage of state guarantees.

And if there is a default value?

That the owner with the ICO guarantee stops paying his mortgage, the state would be responsible for returning the 20% determined by the public guarantee to the bank. The customer remains responsible for the rest.

Those under 36 can now access the Xunte guarantee line, which covers 20% of assets

After Sánchez announced that his government would launch a series of guarantees to help young people acquire a home — a measure that was finally approved yesterday in the Council of Ministers — from the People’s Party reminded the socialists that the autonomous communities governed by the PP already have plans for guarantees like the one announced by the central executive.

Galicia, for example, has a special plan since April 28, when the first call for public guarantees program for people under 36 was opened. Xunta’s goal is to secure this group buying your first home.

In this way, interested parties can now submit their applications, which must be registered in the electronic headquarters of the Galician Administration.

The call has a budget of five million euros and is based on the granting of mortgage guarantees through the Institut Galego de Vivenda e Solo (IGVS). They can cover up to 20% of the purchase price of the property, up to 48,000 euros.

In addition, as Xunta president Alfonso Rueda explained on April 5, these guarantees will be compatible with other aid for «encourage the purchase of apartments for new people». Among the basic requirements, in addition to not exceeding 36 years established as the limit, there are also some related to income. Thus, those who receive a salary less than twice the equivalent of Iprem, that is, less than 16,800 euros per year, “would receive the maximum amount”. While the limit for the possibility of using the program is 5.5 times higher than Iprem, i.e. 42,600 euros per year.

Díaz criticizes ICO guarantees: “It makes no sense to return to proposals that have expired”

ICO guarantees have not received the approval of the purple wing of the Government. But that attitude did not affect the final decision, which was confirmed by the Council of Ministers yesterday. The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, had to deal with harsh criticism from his main partners (ERC, EH Bildu as well as Unidas Podemos), words that were joined by the second Vice President, Yolanda Díaz.

And the Minister of Labor assured that “there is no point in going back to prescriptions that have expired” and called for more far-reaching measures. To that effect, he countered that it was “possible” that the floating rate review could be suspended this year to freeze mortgage payments: “For years, housing was subsidized as a financial product, unfair and ineffective policy. Today, we see its results: housing and rental prices have skyrocketed, and mortgage payments have risen intolerably due to rising interest rates.

The Catalan government will expropriate empty apartments to allocate them to social rent

The Catalan government announced this Tuesday that it will expropriate between 50 and 70 empty homes in 14 municipalities that have been declared areas of high housing demand in order to dedicate them to social rent. As the Minister of Territories of the Generalitat, Juli Fernández, explained yesterday, this measure will be promoted on the basis of Law 1/2022 of the Catalan government: «The government uses all the tools at its disposal to respond to families in situations of vulnerability and who have no response. The goal is for people to live in empty apartments,” he asserted.

A total of 189 homes have been detected that meet the established conditions, and although the majority are from large owners, it can also affect individuals if the home is entered in the register of empty homes in Catalonia or meets the requirements to be. The Generalitat will set aside five million euros for expropriation — regardless of whether an agreement is reached with the property — which can be expanded in the future if agreements are reached with new municipalities.