Guide to subsidized housing loans

Subsidizing housing loans is a measure of assistance from the Croatian Government which makes it easier for Croatian citizens to take care of the housing issue by repaying part of the housing loan.

Through following a few simple steps, find out how:

1. The first conditions that must be met by the home loan user are:

• a citizen with permanent residence in the territory of the Republic of Croatia
• who at the time of submitting the application to the credit institution is not older than 45 years or has not reached 45 years of age
• whose spouse or common-law partner, life partner or informal life partner does not own an apartment or house or who are in such a state of usability that there are basic hygienic and technical living conditions or who own only one apartment or house that is in such condition of usability that there are basic hygienic and technical conditions for life, and which he sells

1. The applicant must first find an apartment, house or building land.
2. All conditions and possibilities can be checked by the applicant in one of the credit institutions with which APN will conclude an Agreement on granting subsidized loans. The deadline for repaying the housing loan is between 15 and 30 years.
3. The amount of the subsidy ranges between 30% and 51%, and depends on the development index on which the real estate is purchased or located (8 groups in which the city or municipality is located have been determined). The subsidy is granted for the first 5 years of loan repayment.
4. This law also has a demographic measure because it additionally extends the loan subsidy period by 2 years for each live-born or adopted child, then one year for a child under 18 years of age. Also, for an additional two years in case the applicant or a member of his family household has an established disability of more than 50%.
5. The loan amount may go up to a maximum of EUR 100,000 in kuna equivalent according to the middle exchange rate of the CNB on the day of loan disbursement, with a minimum repayment period of 15 years. Thus, a housing loan may be higher than that amount, but it will not be subsidized.
6. The applicant should submit to the APN complete documentation (copy of identity card, copy of pre-contract, copy of land registry excerpt, etc.) with the application for loan subsidy and the documentation required by the bank.
7. APN will, in the order of application, approve the subsidized loans and send them to the applicant’s credit institutions within 3 days of its adoption.

The Law on Subsidizing Housing Loans states that an important document is the usage permit, which means that a subsidy cannot be approved for apartments under construction.