A student residence

A mortgage taken out under this programme will have a longer grace period (i.e. students will pay reduced instalments until they finish their studies). "This will make it possible for students to save money compared to the cost of renting an apartment," claims Robert Ziółek, the general director of Dolcan. In the initial period (until the student finishes his or her studies) the cost of a PLN 250,000 mortgage will amount to app. PLN 1,200 per month - lower than the cost of renting a whole flat and comparable to renting a room. Another advantage of Dolcan's offer is that it is to be available to students who apply for it with the backing of a third party (e.g. a parent) in order to prove their ability to repay the debt. "It is a common problem nowadays. When a mortgage is taken out that is to be backed by the parents, banks require the apartments to be the property of the parents rather than the student," points out Robert Ziółek. Warsaw is the city with the highest number of students, and this is why the development company has decided to offer all its projects in the capital to students, i.e. a total of a dozen or so estates in districts such as Wola, Ochota, Włochy, Zacisze, Białołęka and Rembertów, as well as two projects outside the city boundary in Ząbki. In Lublin students can buy such apartments in the Grabskiego estate, while in Szczecin the flats on offer are in the Arkadia estate on ul. Małkowskiego in the city centre. Apartments in Bydgoszcz are also included in the offer.

One home with two schemes
In the meantime, Dom Development has introduced a nationwide housing programme entitled Student's Own Home devised for students who rent flats or rooms in the biggest cities, such as Warsaw and Wrocław. The idea behind it is simple: students combine the above-mentioned Student's Own Home Programme with the governmental Family's Own Home Programme. The benefit is that these two programmes together enable a student to buy an apartment and pay monthly instalments lower than the monthly cost of renting a flat. Such a student would be required to participate in both the Family's Own Home programme as well as the Students Own Home programme for three years after the completion of the project. It is also possible to buy a finished apartment, which means that you can move in immediately after receiving the keys and all the costs of the finishing can be included in the mortgage. The developer gives the example of a mortgage payment for a finished apartment with an area of 36.9 sqm on the Wilno estate on ul. Bukowiecka in Warsaw. The apartment has two rooms - a living room connected with the kitchen and a separate bedroom with a price that amounts to app. PLN 238,000 (PLN 6,450 per sqm). Assuming a 40-year period for paying off the mortgage, the monthly instalments come to PLN 1,236.64.

Is renting passé?
"We have carefully analysed the prices for renting apartments and rooms, which are currently quite high, and which is why we would like to encourage students to consider buying their own flat at a cost lower than the cost of renting one. In this way a student of today has the opportunity to pay instalments towards their own flat, which will make it easier for them to start out in adult life. In less than three months after the launch of the programme, we have signed several dozen contracts with students who have opted to buy a flat under the Student's Own Home programme," says Jarosław Szanajca, president of the management board of Dom Development. How do real estate experts feel about the new initiatives? In the opinion of Grzegorz Żochowski, a partner with residential consultants Reas: "Offering preferential conditions to students certainly creates an opportunity for developers to acquire new clients."