Since July 2009. banks issued 65 KredEx renovation loans with favorable interest in the total amount of 72 million kroons. The average loan amount was 1.1 million kroons, the area of the average house was 2,382 m² and the average energy efficiency achieved thanks to the reconstruction works is 32.7%. Half of the agreements have been concluded for the reconstruction of houses situated in Tallinn. Mainly the insulation of facades and roofs, and renovation of heating systems are carried out with the help of these loans.

According to Ms Mirja Adler, Head of the KredEx housing product division, now is the right time for reconstructing the apartment buildings.

“The construction prices have dropped, construction workers have time to renovate the apartment buildings, heating prices are continuously rising and the best financing conditions for apartment buildings are present in Estonia in the form of long-term renovation loans with favorable interest“, said Ms Mirja Adler.

“While the apartment owners cannot do anything to avoid the increasing prices of central heating, it’s quite possible to achieve energy efficiency through fixing your house“, added Ms Adler.

Practices in fixing the apartment houses have shown that reconstructing the whole house at one go is the most expedient method. Investing into the heat-retention and modernizing the heating system help to reduce the energy consumption of the buildings by 30–40% and sometimes energy efficiency of up to 50% can be achieved.

“Considering the present heating prices, the decrease in heating costs thanks to the energy efficiency covers the monthly loan payment, meaning that the residents have practically no additional expenses, but they can live already today in the safe and beautiful houses of high quality,“ added Adler.

Since July 2009 it is possible to finance the house reconstruction with a long-term loan, issued in co-operation with KredEx and banks. Thanks to the European Union structural funds, its interest rate is lower than on the average — up to 4.7% fixed for 10 years. The maximum loan term is 20 years. One can apply for the above-mentioned loan from the banks SEB and Swedbank.

One of the prerequisites of the loan is the existence of energy audit and a full building project. It is also possible to apply for the support from KredEx for these. Energy audit and building design documentation grant is 50% of the cost of work, but not more than 10,000 kroons per energy audit and 50,000 kroons per building design documentation. In 2009 756 grant applications were submitted in the total sum of 6.1 million kroons. Grants were allocated to 710 applicants in the total amount of 5.3 million kroons. Altogether 1,129 applicants have received grants in the total amount of 7.8 million kroons since 2008.