English
Central Bank Governor Trajko Slaveski is proposing measures that will get banks to improve terms for primary home buyers. Real-estate prices in Macedonia exploded over the past years, leaving many citizens unable to buy a home.
We are preparing measures that will help first time buyers of homes to be used as primary residence. We will also toughen criteria the banks give to those purchasing investment apartments which won’t be used to live in. Young couples are in a very difficult situation with the developments at the real-estate market, especially in the capital and several other cities. We don’t want this trend to continue, Slaveski said.
The Governor added that the banks made proposals and some of them are accepted. One of the measures will include restitution of the value added tax paid on primary homes. Slaveski said that 73 percent of homebuyers who used mortgages listed the home as primary residence, but that this is not being verified by the banks.
