If you want a cottage, you should know: Banks do not give housing loans for them, NBS explains why for Telegraf

If you are planning to buy a cottage with the help of a home loan, we will have to disappoint you – such a thing is not possible. In a conversation with a real estate agent on Fruška Gora, who sold one for 400,000 euros, we learned that you can’t buy cottages with a loan. Her answer confused us, so we sought an explanation from the banks themselves, as well as the National Bank of Serbia.

As a source from a bank confirmed for Telegraf Biznis, it is really not possible to buy cottages with a housing loan unless such facilities are available registered as houses.

The answer to why this is so is hidden in the market. In the case of inability to fulfill credit obligations, the sale of the cottage is a complication in the announcement, precisely because of the market. The demand for houses and apartments is of course higher, and refunds will be easier with them, in contrast to cottages.

Therefore, the reason is the security of the bank, which comes from market demand. Also, our source explained to us that according to the Law, the National Bank of Serbia does not allow the lending of cottages.

The Telegraf team also sent an inquiry to the NBS, and here is what they told us. It is true that you cannot finance a cottage with a home loan, but no one says that the bank you choose cannot offer you another loan.

– Banks determine the terms of loan approval by their business policy, and from the aspect of the current regulation governing the business of banks, Do not exist legal obstacles that would prevent banks from approving loans for the purchase of holiday homes, in accordance with their policy of lending to natural persons – the NBS said and clarified the part about housing loans:

– A housing loan is determined by its purpose, bearing in mind that it is a special category of long-term loans, which are approved for the purchase of an apartment or house, as well as for the construction, extension, reconstruction and adaptation of a residential building.

In accordance with the regulations of the National Bank of Serbia, for the purposes of certain regulatory treatment, under residential real estate are considered a house, an apartment and parts of a residential building that are intended for living, a garage, i.e. a garage space together with an apartment, as well as land with a building permit for the construction of a house, with the fact that cottages are not considered residential real estate.

Therefore, in order for real estate to be considered residential, the purpose of using such real estate is paramount, which is housing. Cottages, if they are intended for vacation, as such, they do not represent residential buildings in the narrower sense, and in that sense their purchase is not financed through a housing loan, which does not exclude other types of lending by the bank – conclude from the NBS for Telegraf Biznis.

(Telegraph Business)