Andorra la VellaThe Government is looking for the involvement of banking institutions with the intention of promoting “a kind of public-private fund that allows much more depth in the rehabilitation or purchase of housing at an affordable price both for rent and for purchase”. In fact, this is one of the issues that the executive has already discussed with the banks as well as how the aid program for the purchase of the first home can be “reconfigured”.
Precisely, this past Friday the executive held a meeting with the general directors of the three banking entities and of Andorran Banking to address these issues and as highlighted by the Head of Government, Xavier Espot, the “meeting was very positive and the banks extended their hand and had a proactive attitude” as he recalled that the housing problem “not only affects” the “most vulnerable” people but also represents a country problem, since companies see how hard it is for them to attract and retain talent precisely because of the cost of housing. In this sense, he has stated that they are forced to “pay 20, 30 or 40%” more in salary to recruit staff and compensate for the price of housing. In this sense, he regretted that this affects the “competitiveness of companies” and remarked that the banks want to “be part of the solution” in this problem. And since they want to “move forward quickly and decisively” the executive and the entities have positioned themselves for the month of January to be able to carry out a “more technical, more executive” meeting to be able to “put on the table specific proposals.
With regard to aid within the framework of the program for the purchase of the first home, Espot has reiterated that it is necessary to work to make it “more attractive” and that this may be “easier” in a context of “higher interest rates moderate”.
And on the proposal of the Minister of the Presidency, Economy, Work and Housing, Conxita Marsol, that part of what is collected as a foreign real estate investment can be allocated to a public purchase park, Espot has assessed that “it is not question of resources”, since housing is “the highest priority” of the executive this money could be “taken” from what is collected in foreign investment “or from anywhere else”.