The rate of application of the program of housing support for families with children, which has been implemented by the Armenian government for six years, is so high that the budget needs to be redistributed every year.
This was announced by Gayane Gharagyozyan, coordinator of individual functions of the structural divisions of the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, within the framework of the “Armenpress Podcast” project.
“If we talk about the indicators covering from July 1, 2020 until now, 15 thousand 900 beneficiaries have already used the program. During these years, around 12 billion drams have already been paid to them from the state budget. If we only talk about the year 2026, then 750 beneficiaries have already received support: a total of about 851 million drams have been paid to them,” Gharagyozyan elaborated, adding that about 400 applications are currently under study.
Referring to the components of the program, the adviser mentioned that it is currently implemented with 2 components.
The first refers to those families who have at least 2 minor children and want to purchase real estate or build an individual residential house with mortgage lending in any regional settlement of the Republic of Armenia.
In this case, an important condition is to have at least 2 minor children, as well as the fact that the value of the acquired property should not exceed 35 million drams.
In case of acquisition, the beneficiary must make an advance payment of at least 10% of his funds, and if the market is secondary, then at least 7.5%.
When purchasing or building real estate from the primary market, it is an important condition that it be the sole property of the family, owned by a share of 50% or more.
State support is up to 1 million drams for at least 2 children, up to 1.5 million drams for 3 children, and up to 2 million drams for 4 or more children. If the property is acquired or built in a border village or in the settlements where schools and kindergartens are built, then the support is increased by 50%.
The second component refers to those families who already have a mortgage loan and a new child is born in the family.
In this case, regardless of the child’s order number, one-time state monetary support is provided for the repayment of the mortgage loan.
One of the important conditions of the project is the threshold of the cost of the apartment, which should not exceed 35 million drams.
Depending on the birth of the first or second child in the family, the amount of support is up to 500,000 AMD, and in the case of the third and subsequent ones, up to 2 million AMD.
It is noteworthy that the property purchased with a mortgage must be the sole property of the family, with a share of 50% or more. To use the program, you must apply before the child turns 1 year old, and at the time of applying, the beneficiary must have at least 12 months of repayments. Moreover, delays should not exceed 30 days.
Referring to the planned housing support program for families with 6 or more children, Gharagyozyan noted that its implementation will enable families with many children to purchase real estate with 100 percent subsidy from the state or build an individual residential house in any regional settlement of the Republic of Armenia.
“This will significantly ease the financial burden of large families, and of course, it is a very good opportunity for them to finally have their own home, with minimal living space, because currently there are large families who have real estate, but the living space is so small that there is a problem of physical accommodation. With this program, a mandatory requirement was established that the property to be purchased or built should not be less than 10 square meters per family member,” the advisor emphasized.
According to him, certain studies were carried out while developing the project and according to the information received from the communities, currently the number of people with 6 or more minor children in the republic is 643.
One of the important requirements of the program is that the parents’ income for the last 1 year should not exceed 10 million drams. It will be considered mandatory to submit the previous year’s income declaration.
According to the program, a certificate will be issued to the family, which will enable them to purchase real estate or build an individual residential house with mortgage lending in any regional settlement of RA.
According to our interlocutor, a privilege is planned for those families who will build or buy a house in a rural area. In this case, an additional payment of 4 million drams is planned.
“We anticipate that if all the beneficiaries who have already been registered in advance apply, and at least 50% of them will prefer a rural settlement, that is, an additional 4 million drams, then for the next 10 years, since the mortgage loan is for 10 years, around 32 billion drams will be required from the state budget,” Gharagyozyan said.
Speaking about the project launch schedule, he said that as a result of summarizing the results of the public discussion and the proposals received from other departments, the project will be submitted to the Government for approval within the next 1 month, but nevertheless it will start from January 1, 2027.
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