Finance Committee – SPÖ-Krainer: “The government’s housing package is shrinking”

2024-03-14 14:47:12

SPÖ wants low interest rates for all housing loans

Vienna (OTS/SK) – “The government’s housing package is shrinking before it has even been decided,” says SPÖ finance spokesman Jan Krainer. In the Finance Committee, the government parties submitted the application for the special-purpose grant for housing loans from the states. The stated goal was to reduce the interest on home loans for borrowers to 1.5 percent (for the maximum loan amount of 200,000 euros). In fact, the coalition only wants to grant the low interest rate until 2028. From the SPÖ’s perspective, the even bigger mistake is that only a few tens of thousands of households will benefit from low interest rates. “The 500,000 households that are currently repaying a current loan with high interest rates are left empty-handed,” says Krainer. ****

The SPÖ has long been calling for a cap on all existing real estate loans at 3 percent, financed by a bank excess profits tax. If the SPÖ model is not to come, then the measure planned by the government for future borrowers should at least be rolled out to all current households with expensive housing loans (up to a net income of 100,000 euros per year).

You should be given the opportunity to refinance existing bank loans. So you have to cancel part of the variable loan at the bank – up to 200,000 euros – and refinance it into a cheaper state loan. And without any penalties (fees or penalty interest) from the banks. The funds for this should – as planned by the government – be made available to the states via the ÖBFA. However, the volume would have to be increased accordingly and financed by skimming off the banks’ excess profits. (End) wf/lp