The Generalitat's loan line to help young people pay the down payment for their first home has already allowed the purchase of 75 flats in the Tarragona demarcation, with 54 operations closed in Camp and 21 in Terres de l"Ebre. The program, managed through the Institut Català de Finances, offers interest-free and commission-free financing to cover part of the initial cost of the purchase and sale.
The measure is aimed at people between 18 and 35 years old and allows financing up to 20% of the property's price, with a cap of 50,000 euros. In Tarragona, in addition to the 75 homes already acquired, the ICF has accepted 197 applications, of which 143 correspond to Camp and 54 to Terres de l"Ebre.
How help works
Applications for this line are open since June 30 on the ICF website. Once the institute approves the request, the applicant must go to one of the adhering banking entities to process the mortgage. From that moment, a period of six months opens to sign it.
The ICF loan is repaid with monthly installments during the five years following having fully paid the bank mortgage, which must have a maximum term of 30 years. If between both financings 100% of the purchase price is not reached, the rest must be contributed with own resources.
The Generalitat, through the Catalan Housing Agency, allocates 500 million euros in five years to this line. Among the adhering banks are Arquia, Banc Sabadell, Bankinter, BBVA, CaixaBank and imagin, Caixa Enginyers, Caixa Guissona, Laboral Kutxa and Banco Santander.
Requirements and income limits
To access the aid, one must be between 18 and 35 years old, be registered in Catalonia, buy the first home, not carry significant debts, and not exceed the fixed income limits. The annual gross income threshold is 83,392.53 euros for one person and 85,971.60 euros for two.
The housing acquired through this formula becomes a limited-price official protection housing. That implies that, if the owner decides to sell it, they can only do so for the acquisition price updated with the CPI and with the cost of certain renovations.
"We do not believe that this is a problem for us because we have bought the home with the intention of it being our permanent house from now on, so we are not thinking at all about speculating" - Cristina Abelló, homebuyer in Tarragona
The case of a buyer in Tarragona
Cristina Abelló, one of the people who has accessed this financing in Tarragona, explains that the process was manageable despite the documentary burden. She received approval in a mere ten days, although she opted not to activate the entire operation until having confirmation of the loan.
"We looked up all the steps online and it was quite simple" - Cristina Abelló, home buyer in Tarragona
"The process seemed simple to me because all the requirements were explained on the website, although that doesn't take away from the fact that the task of gathering all the documentation is somewhat cumbersome" - Cristina Abelló, home buyer in Tarragona
"We blocked the apartment with the real estate agency, but we didn't activate everything until we knew for sure that they were going to approve the loan" - Cristina Abelló, homebuyer in Tarragona
The buyer also points to the doubts that she found in the banking phase once she already had the approval from the ICF.
"Sometimes I had the sensation that I knew better how the aid worked than the bank staff" - Cristina Abelló, home buyer in Tarragona
Context of access to housing
The implementation of this line occurs in a context of increasing difficulty to emancipate. According to data from the Emancipation Observatory of the Youth Council of Spain, young people in Tarragona must allocate 70% of their salary to access housing and between 30% and 40% of their salary to rent a room.
The Survey on Youth in Catalonia published in 2023 adds another figure of economic pressure. 46% of young people in the province of Tarragona have problems making ends meet. In case of non-payment by a beneficiary, ICF sources specify that the process to recover the maximum amount granted is initiated, within a line that seeks to facilitate the purchase without completely eliminating the financial requirement of access to housing.