The Government of the Azores has launched the 2nd phase of the public competition for the allocation of 118 houses on a lease scheme with a purchase option.

With this procedure, the Government will allocate 118 new houses to families with an average income under very favourable terms. 77 houses will be allocated on the island of São Miguel and 44 on the island of Terceira.

Hence, 42 houses will be allocated in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, 26 in Angra do Heroísmo, 24 in Ribeira Grande, 15 in the municipality of Praia da Vitória, 6 in Lagoa and 5 in Nordeste, of which 21 are 1-bedroom houses, 6 2-bedroom houses, 29- bedroom houses and 5 4- bedroom houses.

With this competition, the Government of the Azores has completed the allocation of 274 houses that were purchased in an investment over 26 million Euros, therefore contributing to the stabilisation and balance of the real estate market and assuring an injection of additional liquidity to the companies of the construction sector.

This governmental intervention will support another 118 Azorean families, who in a will have access to adequate house on a lease scheme under favourable conditions in a period when obtaining bank credit is increasingly difficult, therefore allowing them the possibility of purchasing the houses  at a low cost, without bank loans, which is an additional support to average income families. 

Under this process, the 118 families will have access to a new house, benefitting from an advantageous lease scheme and a purchase option at a price considerably lower than the market prices.  

With this measure, the Regional Government provides families with the possibility of acquiring the house and the amount of the rents to be paid are the payment of the housing instalment and not a rent cost, thus families will be not be dependent on bank credit to acquire housing.

In addition to this advantage, families will not be entailed to a purchase deadline as they do not need to provide any guarantee or a guarantor insofar as they are entitled to purchase the house without extra costs at the end of the contractual term with the possibility of purchasing the house at any time.

The families to whom these houses will be allocated will also be protected from the risks of fluctuation in interest rates as, contrary to housing loans, the monthly amount will be indexed to inflation. Hence, the fluctuation of the interest rates does not constitute any additional burden to families, which will ensure and increase their financial stability.

All Azorean families whose annual gross income, of the members that earn income, does not exceed 21,000 Euros and with an effort rate of the respective household below or at 56% of the revenue may apply for this measure. Applications should be submitted at the RIAC Centres within 60 days.