The recent increase in earnings under the “Europe Now 2” program is expected to ease the repayment of housing loans for citizens who purchased apartments in the past, according to Vasilije Čarapić, the president of the Europe Now parliamentary club.
Čarapić highlighted that while earnings are set to rise, the cost of loan installments will remain unchanged, thereby directly benefiting household budgets.
He pointed out that the average price per square meter of an apartment in Podgorica has surged by 82% since 2020. In comparison, the minimum wage has risen by an average of 215%, and the average wage has increased by 100%.
“This indicates that the growth in earnings has outpaced the rise in apartment prices per square meter,” Čarapić remarked.
He also refuted claims that the Europe Now program contributed to the increase in apartment prices.
“The argument that the Europe Now program caused a rise in apartment prices does not hold up when considering that a square meter of an apartment in Podgorica cost 966 EUR in 2020. By 2021, before the Europe Now 1 program was implemented, the price had risen to 1,700 EUR—only 61 EUR less than the current price, two years after the program’s implementation,” Čarapić concluded.
