The number of Ukrainians who can get housing under the eOselia affordable mortgage lending program has been increasing since 1 August. War veterans, combatants and people who do not have their own home can apply for a loan at 7%. All other categories of borrowers remain in the program too. The relevant decision was adopted at the Government meeting on 4 July 2023.

“Effective 1 August, we are launching the next stage of the eOselia state program and increasing the number of Ukrainians who can use it and buy housing. War veterans, combatants, internally displaced persons who were forced to move to safer regions due to the war, and people who do not have their own homes can apply through the Diia application for a mortgage loan at 7%,” commented First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko. 

In particular, the following persons will be able to apply for participation in the program:

• war veterans and their family members; combatants, persons with disabilities as a result of the war, families of deceased war veterans and also families of deceased (deceased) Defenders of Ukraine;

• other citizens of Ukraine who do not have their own residential real estate or own less than 52.5 sq. m for a family of one person (single person) and an additional 21 sq. m – for each subsequent family member, with the exception of housing in temporarily occupied territories.

The above-mentioned categories of citizens will be able to participate in the eOselia program under the following conditions:

• fixed annual rate in Ukrainian hryvnias – 7%;
• first installment – 20% or more;
• lending period – up to 20 years;
• you can buy an apartment in a building that is under construction or not older than three years at the time of signing the contract. 

If a person wants to purchase housing under construction, they can purchase it only from developers who are accredited by banks participating in the program. Within the framework of eOselia, lending is allowed exclusively under the financing models, when the buyer becomes the owner of property rights to the housing under construction at the time of issuing the loan. This model of work ensures the protection of the rights of eOselia borrowers when buying an apartment on the primary market in facilities under construction. Accreditation of developers by banks in the program will be available only to those developers who have chosen transparent construction financing mechanisms. 

The adopted decision of the Government also envisages the following changes to the eOselia affordable mortgage lending program:

• the list of territories covered by the program has been expanded. From now on, it will be available in those territories of Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts that are not under occupation and have no active hostilities;
• detectives and senior detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, rank-and-file and senior staff members of the State Bureau of Investigation, detectives and senior staff members of the Bureau of Economic Security were added to the category of military personnel and security forces eligible for a mortgage loan at 3% annual;
• for those military and security forces who, as a result of being wounded during combat missions, received the I-II group of disability and lost their positions, the right to compensation of interest rate at the expense of the state in the amount of up to 3% annual is retained;
• as for housing construction financing models, “preliminary” agreements and agreements under which there is no “real” transfer of property rights to buyers are excluded.

As a reminder, eOselia partner banks are Oschadbank, Privatbank, Ukrgasbank, Globus Bank and Sky Bank. Several more partner banks are at the stage of integration with Diia and will soon join the implementation of the program. The program is implemented by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Ukrfinzhytlo PrJSC.

The eOselia program has been operating since October 2022. To date, almost 1,700 loans have been issued for a total of more than UAH 2.3 billion.