Serbia Lets Young Mothers Combine Two Rural Home Subsidies
A memorandum signed at Serbia's government links two previously exclusive subsidies: a grant for buying a rural house with land and a subsidy for a first home tied to childbirth.
Since 2022, when the measure for buying a rural house with land was introduced, the state has set aside about 28 million euros for it and provided housing for 1,727 families. As of August 28, that measure has a partner: under a memorandum signed at the Government of Serbia, two previously separate state subsidies for young mothers can now be used together for the first time.
The memorandum was signed by Jelena Zaric Kovacevic, Minister for Family Care and Demography, and Milan Krkobabic, Minister for Rural Care. The goal is to link the Program for Granting Non-Refundable Funds for Buying a Rural House with Land, run by Krkobabic’s ministry, with the subsidy for buying a first home based on the birth of a child, awarded by Zaric Kovacevic’s ministry.
What was previously mutually exclusive
Until now, the two measures excluded each other. A mother could choose either up to 1.5 million dinars (about 12,800 euros) in non-refundable funds for a rural house with land, or a subsidy worth 20 percent of a property’s value based on the birth of a child, but not both. To let both measures be used at the same time, the government will amend two decrees in the coming days: the Decree on the Program for Granting Non-Refundable Funds for Buying a Rural House with Land on the Territory of the Republic of Serbia, and the Decree on the Detailed Conditions and Manner of Exercising the Right to Funds for Building, Participating in the Purchase of, or Buying a Family Residential Building or Apartment Based on the Birth of a Child.
The target group is mothers with children up to one year old who want to live in the countryside. Explaining the practical side of combining the measures, Zaric Kovacevic said:
We will now be able to combine the measures that exist within our two ministries, so that citizens can use both the measure for buying a rural house from the relevant ministry and the measure we manage, which is the subsidy for buying a first home based on the birth of a child. This way we allow mothers to reach their first property, we allow families to stay in their homes, to stay in the countryside, to stay and raise their children where they themselves grew up.
As she put it, this opens a path to a first home for families who want to stay in rural areas instead of leaving because of housing problems.
How much money has already been invested, and what’s coming
Through the rural house program, more than 4,300 houses have been awarded so far, according to the Ministry of Rural Care. The first-home subsidy tied to childbirth, proposed in 2022 by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, has brought 13 million euros for more than 770 approvals during Zaric Kovacevic’s current term. The minister also announced additional funding for September:
In this mandate alone we have invested 13 million euros for more than 770 approvals. What I also want to announce is that the commission will hold another session in September, at which we will review two to three times more applications than we have reviewed so far, precisely because we expect the budget rebalance to be adopted, through which we have allocated another 200 million dinars for these applications, so we are working to make sure as many mothers as possible exercise their right.
Through the budget rebalance, the ministry will thus receive an additional 200 million dinars (about 1.7 million euros) earmarked for applications under this measure. According to the minister’s announcement, the September session of the commission will review two to three times more cases than previous sessions.
Krkobabic described the merging of the two measures as a response to the real situation on the ground:
Real-life circumstances require that we, in the ministries of the Government of Serbia, adapt. And this is exactly how we adapt and how we can give a true and honest response to the real situation on the ground. There are mothers with children under one year of age who need to continue their lives in Serbia, and it is only natural that we meet such women halfway.
According to him, the initiative also came from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, with support from Prime Minister Djuro Macut, whom Zaric Kovacevic had mentioned earlier as well. Krkobabic concluded:
I’m glad about this initiative. My colleague Zaric Kovacevic recognized it brilliantly, and this is an initiative that also came, among others, from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. We will align things very quickly. This is genuinely good news for all of Serbia, and especially for young mothers.
The two ministries are now waiting for the budget rebalance to pass and for the two decrees to be amended, both expected within the next few days. Only once those changes take effect will mothers be able to apply under both measures at the same time.
