Vice Minister of the Interior Lin Join-sane (林中森) said yesterday that the government would allow an extra 7,000 young people to apply for the government’s preferential interest rate home loan program.
The program will drive investment of up to NT$90 billion (US$2.74 billion) in the real estate market, Lin said.
Lin said the offer would bring the number of people benefiting from the program, which was open to applicants from between Feb. 16 and March 27, to about 17,907, if all of the allocation is taken up.
He made the announcement at a press conference at the Government Information Office briefing the media on the government’s social welfare programs.
Under the preferential home loan program, which lasts two years, an applicant renting an apartment can receive NT$3,600 per month from the government as part of his or her rent allowance, while a home-buyer can obtain a NT$2 million loan with a zero interest rate for the first two years.
The government initially planned to let 10,000 home-buyers apply for the preferential home loan.
Meanwhile, Lin said that another social welfare measure introduced by the ministry that had been warmly received was an artificial teeth subsidy of up to NT$40,000 for senior citizens from low and middle income families, the first time such a scheme has been implemented nationwide.
Lin said the government has earmarked NT$230 million for the program this year and about 94 percent of the budget had been spent as of last month, benefiting 7,000 senior citizens.
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