The government is not giving up, although there is no support. The “Start-up loan” project in August?

On Wednesday, Minister of Development and Technology Krzysztof Paszyk announced on TVP Info that work is underway on a new form of support for apartment buyers. In his opinion, the entire proposal will be available in a few days. Asked when the final draft of the bill will be ready, he replied that “it’s a matter of August.”

The head of the Ministry of Development and Technology was also asked whether some form of tax on vacant properties would come into force. He did not give a clear answer, but admitted that in his opinion it was a solution worth considering.

Coalition partners do not want “Start-up Loan”

Reservations regarding the subsidy program were expressed by the ministries of family, finance, funds, climate, justice, as well as the National Bank of Poland.

“Unfortunately, I express concerns that the solutions proposed in the act, instead of contributing to improving the availability of housing, may lead to an even greater crisis on the housing market. A further increase in property prices, which is a probable effect of the proposed regulations, will result in even lower availability of housing on the real estate market due to the need for consumers to obtain greater creditworthiness,” assesses the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy.

Who will be the real beneficiary of the subsidy program?

The Ministry warns that the main beneficiaries of the proposed solutions will be developers “who have already benefited greatly from the existing solutions.”

The Left has been critical of the idea of ​​returning to subsidies from the very beginning. Its politicians point out that last year’s program boosted real estate prices – in large cities they rose by at least 15 percent in a year, and in Krakow the increase even exceeded 20 percent.

In addition, the Left remains a supporter of building municipal and TBS housing. Although there was information recently that one of the elements of the housing program is to be an injection of money for local governments to build cheaper apartments, we do not know any specifics. Whether these would be apartments for rent or for ownership, how much money would go to the municipalities for this purpose – silence around this. One may get the impression that this information “came out” from the Ministry of Development only to placate the Left.

Subsidy programs do not help

We are not the first country to experiment with loan subsidy programs in the hope that this will make housing more affordable.

Loan subsidy programs lead to price increases, do not stimulate construction activity, and do not increase the percentage of families living in their own property – wrote “Puls Biznesu” a few weeks ago, citing the experience of countries that have decided to provide such support.

Subsidizing loans can take two forms: a subsidy to the down payment and a subsidy to the loan installment. In both cases, the economic effects are similar – they increase the demand for real estate – reports “PB”. It also cites examples from several countries where such solutions have been tested.

For example, the British “Help to Buy” program consisted of several components, one of which was the state’s auxiliary loans for the purchase of real estate. A household could obtain funding in the form of an interest-free loan, which reduced the requirements for the down payment and reduced the subsidies for the first years of loan repayment.

And what was the effect? ​​Prices in British cities rose, while construction activity did not change significantly. In contrast, on the border of England and Wales, where prices did not change significantly after the introduction of the program, construction activity increased.