Prime Minister presents unprecedented affordable housing opportunities

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has presented details of the government’s decision on a new phase of the affordable housing project for young families.

Speaking on Facebook live, the PM said that under the new decision the conditions for acquiring an apartment under the project have been expanded. He said that from now on young families eligible for the project will be considered families where the age total of the couples is 70, and not the previously defined 65. “These families will be enabled to acquire apartments from the secondary market, meaning in not new buildings, under the following conditions – the maximum interest rate of mortgage loans in Yerevan will be 7,5%, and 5,5% in provinces,” he said, adding that he has talked with the cenbank president and the latter has said that there are banks that are willing to provide the loans even on lower rates.

The other change in the project is a significant decrease of the pre-payment. It has been lowered to 10% from 30%. The condition applies in the event of an existing pledge of a second property.

The other important change is the re-payment period for the mortgage of apartments in new buildings – 30 years. According to the PM, this is an unprecedented re-payment period in Armenia. He said that he is well aware that there are people who are unemployed, as well as people who are employed but work low wages and cannot benefit from the project. But he said that the basis of the government’s policy is to encourage employment.