National Savings Scheme – Success or Farce?

Inappropriate economic and fiscal policy, low purchasing power, imbalance between supply and demand for real estate, and unfavourable conditions for long-term borrowing by the population were the main reasons for the transformation of housing policy. At the time of ** independence**, Slovenia began to develop a real estate market, the volume of housing construction declined, and the state intervened in the process with regulatory measures (long-term housing loans) with which it sought to stimulate housing construction.

Problem

Inappropriate economic and fiscal policy, low purchasing power, imbalance between supply and demand for real estate, and unfavourable conditions for long-term borrowing by the population were the main reasons for the transformation of housing policy. At the time of ** independence**, Slovenia began to develop a real estate market, the volume of housing construction declined, and the state intervened in the process with regulatory measures (long-term housing loans) with which it sought to stimulate housing construction.

The increased demand for housing was thus intended to ** encourage construction companies** to start building at an accelerated pace. Unfortunately, the state's expectations were not fully realised. The financial volume of long-term housing loans offered through the ** Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia** was insufficient, and loans were allocated on the basis of tenders which, due to limited conditions, were accessible only to a certain part of the population.

Like any market, the real estate market has its own rules. Usually the first rule is that there are no rules. Namely, the increased demand for housing did not cause a proportionally greater supply of new housing, but rather influenced the increase in prices of new and existing real estate.

The idea of activating a broader segment of the population and also involving the banking system led in 1999 to the realisation of the National Housing Savings Scheme.