Investment in property will be helped by subsidy programs. Thanks to upfront payments, money can additionally now also reach the middle class.
Although the acquisition or reconstruction of a property is usually not a cheap matter, there are ways to save money. There are several current subsidy programs that focus on this issue. What are they?
If you're planning a renovation of a family home or considering ways to cut down on energy costs, the grant programs "Repair your grandmother's house" and "New green savings Light" are available. This can provide financial support up to 1.5 million crowns - possibly for insulation, photovoltaics, heat pumps, and other energy-saving technologies.
Repair your grandmother's house and New green savings Light
The program Repair your grandmother's house is ideal for owners of older houses who often plan a comprehensive renovation and insulation of the building. For insulation, we can receive a contribution of up to one million crowns. If we are only interested in replacing the heat source, installing photovoltaics, or implementing controlled ventilation, we can count on a grant of up to 500,000 crowns. Another way to get the money is a favorable loan for 25 years with a maximum interest rate of 3.5 percent up to 2.5 million crowns.
For partial renovations, such as window replacement, roof insulation or installation of a heat pump, photovoltaics and other technologies, the New Green Savings Light program is worthwhile. In addition, it is valid for seniors or households with lower incomes under favorable conditions.
The New Green Savings program itself has undergone several changes for this year. The basic amount of support for individual partial measures such as the mentioned window replacement and insulation, and further also the replacement of energy sources or the installation of roof photovoltaics has been unified to approximately 30 percent. Applicants who simultaneously implement some measures on the building envelope with the installation of technology will benefit. The above also applies to the Repair Grandma's House and New Green Savings Light programs.
"The new conditions return the New Green Savings program back to the essence of energy modernization – quality home renovations that combine energy savings, efficient technology, and renewable sources. Only in this way can we reduce the energy consumption of a house by 60 to 85 percent permanently,"
said for LP-Life the director of the Passive House Center, Vítězslav Malý.
Money upfront
Many people have been deterred from implementing larger energy-saving measures, such as comprehensive insulation, mainly because of the high initial investment. The lack of funds is in fact a significant barrier for many households that want to renovate their homes and that finally prevents them from implementing it. According to our findings, only about one percent of family homes are currently being renovated in our country each year.
That's why applicants for insulation of family houses can count on an advance payment of the grant for everyone and further advantaged loans from banks and savings banks. According to environment minister Petr Hladík, this will now allow even the middle class to renovate.
"The middle class either couldn't afford to borrow somewhere and then get a subsidy, or they were not in those advantaged target groups. Here finally, the middle class really gets the chance to get a subsidy in advance, and thus also be creditworthy for the building society towards the loan,"
said the minister to the Czech News Agency.
Available rental housing
A separate chapter is the subsidy support for affordable rental housing, for which the European Union will provide eight billion crowns from the National Recovery Plan. By next year, therefore, the construction of over 3,500 new flats with affordable rent should begin.
"The Czech Republic is only the fourth country in the European Union that has managed to negotiate permission for support for affordable rental housing from public money. In a record short time, we then prepared financial tools with our partners, which will make European money available to local governments for the construction of flats for the middle class and especially young families,"
he told Czech Press Office Kulhánek and added:
"It is an opportunity for smaller municipalities, which, for example, want to keep young families, teachers, firefighters or nurses and other important professions."
The financial instruments include preferential loans from the State Fund for Investment Support, subordinate loans from the National Development Bank and a co-investment fund from the National Development Investment.
The loans on offer can cover up to 90 percent of the costs of municipal housing projects, which do not exceed 250 million crowns. Their maturity is up to 30 years and the guaranteed interest rate ranges from one to three percent. The grant component can reach up to 40 percent of the costs.
Subordinate loans from the National Development Bank are then focused on larger affordable housing projects, which may cost up to 600 million crowns. The state will invest 2.5 billion crowns from the National Recovery Plan into this financial instrument. The National Development Bank is concurrently negotiating support with banks. It is further considered that the state will allow private investors to enter into some projects.
There are a number of subsidy programs. In addition to those listed here, there are also those that are related to addressing current problems in the country. A recent example might be the money allocated for the rescue of properties, which suffered after last year's floods. Such help is certainly worth it. All you need to do is ask the relevant responsible authorities for more information.
Sources: own enquiry, ČTK, Ministry of Environment, Ministry for Local Development
