'Préstecs Emancipació' will cover up to 20% of the value of the property, will have an interest rate of 0% and will not have to be repaid until the mortgage is paid.
On 30 June, the new line of 'Emancipation Loans' will start operating, which will finance the entry of the first home for young people up to 35 years of age. The loans will cover up to 20% of the value of the property (with a ceiling of €50,000), while the remaining 80% will be provided by the banks participating in the programme: Arquia, Banco Sabadell, Bankinter, BBVA, CaixaBank and imagin, Caixa Enginyers, Caixa Guissona and LABORAL Kutxa. Work is underway to incorporate Banco Santander before the line opens.
In this way, the Government wants young people who can pay a mortgage, but who do not yet have enough savings to pay for the down payment, to be able to buy a home. Young people will not pay interest on this loan, and will not have to repay the principal until they have finished repaying the mortgage, with a maximum grace period of 30 years. Once the mortgage has been paid, they will have five years to repay the Emancipation loan.
The new line was presented today by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, and the Minister of Land, Housing and Ecological Transition, Sílvia Paneque. Romero stressed that the Emancipation loans "are a pioneering product in Spain", which "responds to an objective that we have set ourselves as a Government: that public-private collaboration is a way of working to join forces and be able to reach more citizens". The councillor also recalled that, although the ICF's usual target is mostly SMEs, associations or third sector entities, "it seemed to us that, due to a priority objective such as access to housing, it made sense to create an ad hoc product aimed at citizens".
For her part, Minister Paneque described the initiative as "innovative" and considered it "a star measure of this government". "It is a strategic investment of mandate and a policy in favour of the economic dynamism of Catalonia," he added. In this sense, he stressed that the objective is "that it has positive consequences in the lives of many young Catalans". The minister celebrated the fact that the government has had "the ability to find the formula for a product that benefits the country's youth, that harms no one, that avoids ideological debates because it benefits everyone and because it protects the right to live at a reasonable price in our country".
Homes financed through this formula will become permanently protected (HPO). This allows us to achieve a double objective: to make it easier for young people to acquire their first home and to grow the stock of HPOs in Catalonia. If one day the home is to be sold, the price will be limited to the amount for which it was purchased, adding inflation and the cost of certain renovations, to ensure that the person recovers the investment and at the same time that the home remains affordable.
500 million in 5 years
The Government will allocate €500 million over five years (2025-2029) to finance the line, at a rate of €100 million per year. The Generalitat will grant the resources through the Housing Agency of Catalonia (AHC) and the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) will manage the loans. In this sense, the ICF has signed an agreement with the financial institutions adhering to the program to finance the remaining amount of the housing.
Applications for loans can be made from 30 June on the ICF website. If the ICF approves them, young people will have to contact one of the entities adhering to the agreement to apply for the mortgage, which will have a maximum repayment term of 30 years and the conditions agreed between the entity and the customer.
Requirements to access the line
Applicants for Emancipation loans must be registered in Catalonia and be between 18 and 35 years old (inclusive). The home must be the first one purchased by the applicant and must become their habitual residence.
The gross annual income of the people who will live there (including minors and people who do not apply for the loan) may not exceed the Catalan Sufficiency Income Indicator (IRSC) multiplied by 6.5. For example, in the case of a single buyer, it cannot exceed €80,963.31 per year and, in the case of two, €83,467.33.