SMARTER Finance for Families
For more "green" residential buildings
SMARTER Finance for Families is a "green" certification program for residential buildings giving an option to finance the purchase of homes through mortgage loans at preferential terms. The program is developed on an American model and has been implemented since the second decade of the 21st century in Romania, where it has enjoyed remarkable success and increasing popularity. Under Horizon 2020 program, the European Commission funded a project with the main objective to develop locally tailored certification programmes in 11 more countries and to encourage the expansion of green housing in Europe.
Within the project, in partnership with the creators of the program, EnEffect developed a reliable and profitable voluntary Bulgarian certification scheme for residential projects in newly constructed or renovated buildings. The implementation of the scheme brings significant mutual benefits to property buyers, developers and financing institutions and can help increase the demand for modern, high-quality, healthy, and energy-efficient buildings. The new certification scheme assesses whether many high criteria related to energy efficiency, environmental protection, health and comfort have been applied in the housing project. The "green" criteria are carefully selected and consistent with the conditions in Bulgaria and all the requirements of the national legislation. Buildings that meet the required minimum of the relevant criteria receive a "Green Home" certificate. For each building, the exact monthly energy costs in the dwelling are determined, which are recorded in the certificate.
EnEffect offers to the financial institutions in Bulgaria that support sustainable building construction principles to become partners in the Green Mortgage Program. Through it, buyers or homeowners in buildings that have received a Green Home certificate can receive preferential credit terms if they also meet the conditions of partner banks. The discount on credit terms is based on the guaranteed significantly lower monthly energy costs of the homeowner, which leads to an increase in his disposable monthly funds. The lower monthly energy costs and the lower monthly installment on the loan form the lower "monthly price of ownership of the home", which makes its purchase or renovation more financially profitable for the owner, despite its higher initial price.
In February 2020 pilot phases of the implementation of the "Green Home & Green Mortgage" program have started in 11 other European countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic.
More information can be found in the links below:
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This project has received funding from the European Union's HORIZON 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 847141.
