Decision on temporary measures for banks related to housing loans to natural persons

28.09.2023.

The National Bank of Serbia, in order to preserve financial stability and protect users of housing loans, on September 11, 2023 adopted the Decision on temporary measures for banks related to housing loans to natural persons (Official Gazette of the RS No. 78 – hereinafter referred to as the “Decision”).

Namely, the Decision refers to debtors who are beneficiaries of the first housing loan where the contracted amount of the loan does not exceed 200,000 euros, provided that the loan is approved with the application of a variable interest rate. The decision is applied for the next 15 months – starting from the October 2023 installment until December 31, 2024. Thus, as of October, clients’ indebtedness with banks will be less, and the bank will not have the right to demand the difference in interest from the debtor due to the implementation of the decision.

Based on the Decision, the interest rate on housing loans approved until July 30, 2022 will amount to a maximum of 4.08%. This means that those debtors will have their loan installments reduced by 10% – 25%.

For housing loans that were approved as of July 31, 2022 until the entry into force of the Decision, and whose interest rate is higher than 4.08%, users will pay a reduced installment of the loan with interest from the original repayment plan by the end of December 2024.

In addition, for loans that will be approved after the entry into force of the Decision, the fixed part of the interest rate of loans with a variable interest rate will amount to a maximum of 1.1% during the period of validity of this Decision, while the interest rate on loans with a fixed interest rate will be up to 5.03 %.

More information can be found on the website of the National Bank of Serbia https://nbs.rs/sr/scripts/showcontent/index.html?id=19203