The Ukrainian Association of Developers held a joint event with the Ukrainian Financial Housing Company
The focus is on the affordable lending program eOselya: focusing on the primary real estate market and simplifying accreditation procedures for new buildings.
Increasing the supply of apartments in the primary market and growing the volume of loans issued will be the future of the state mortgage lending program eOselya. This requires joint efforts to improve the efficiency of cooperation between all participants: developers, banks, and the program operator. This opinion was expressed by the participants of the meeting of representatives of the Ukrainian Financial Housing Company and the Ukrainian Association of Developers.
Members of UA Developers have developed a number of proposals for eHousing, which they presented to Yevhen Metzger, Chairman of the Board of Ukrfinzhytel.
"It is necessary to increase the supply of primary real estate so that the funds paid under the program return to the Ukrainian economy and work. Today, we already have 48 developers who have accredited more than a hundred apartment buildings at different stages of construction with 4 partner banks. We plan to involve as many banks and developers as possible to offer more affordable housing," said Yevhen Metzger, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Financial Housing Company.
In particular, the meeting focused on deepening and optimizing cooperation with the program's partner banks. The Ukrainian Association of Developers has developed a concept for a pilot project of the Digital Platform for Accreditation of Construction Projects, which will be further developed. It will allow developers to submit a standardized set of information and documents to partner banks, some of which will be pulled from national registers. Integration with existing databases will help to verify construction documents, registration and status of legal entities, information on land plots and property rights.
Data will be exchanged through a single electronic cabinet. Developers will submit an exhaustive list of documents and information and a single questionnaire for the project under construction. Banks will analyze the information and make decisions on further accreditation accordingly.
"The accreditation of new facilities in all the program's partner banks has the potential to provide developers with access to a wide range of financial conditions. This provides more flexibility in choosing loan offers for potential buyers. However, despite these advantages, the accreditation system requires developers to obtain separate accreditation for each of the banks, which multiplies the time and administrative resources required.
Currently, accreditation of one facility can take up to six months. At the same time, a study we conducted among EBA members shows that only 12% of all information requested by banks is unique, and almost 70% of documents are contained in public information registers. A single digital platform will optimize this process by creating the required package once and sending it to all banks at the same time. This will significantly reduce the amount of paperwork and time spent on providing data individually," said Yevhen Favorov, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Association of Developers.
Another proposal of UA Developers is to reduce the requirements for the maximum readiness of the object for developers with an impeccable reputation. Due to the fact that banks are only ready to accredit houses with a relatively high level of readiness, the most liquid one- and two-bedroom apartments that are sold out in the early stages of construction become unavailable to eOsely participants. In addition, the price per square meter increases for them, as the cost of housing traditionally increases as construction approaches completion. Therefore, it is proposed that accreditation should also take into account the business reputation of developers with a proven track record of successfully implemented projects. And accordingly, to reduce the requirements for the readiness of the most reliable facilities, thereby expanding the choice and reducing the cost of housing for the buyer.
Some of the changes proposed by the Ukrainian Association of Developers also relate directly to the terms of eHome. Thus, it is proposed to exclude individuals from the list of sellers. After all, each transaction concluded under eHouse by sellers - individuals - means funds that are mostly not returned to the construction sector in the form of new investments. Therefore, narrowing the pool of potential sellers should create conditions in which most of the funds allocated for the program will be directed to new construction projects and will help overcome the housing crisis and develop the construction industry.
The meeting should be only the first step in further cooperation between Ukrfinzhytel and members of the Ukrainian Association of Homebuilders to improve eHousing. The parties emphasized the continuation of work on the announced initiatives, primarily analyzing the possibility of launching a Digital Accreditation Platform for construction projects. In particular, it is planned to involve the mortgage program's partner banks in this process through bilateral and multilateral practical meetings.
