Dutch housing corporation Ymere is investing EUR 90 mln in the development of new housing in Osijek in Croatia. The project will be based on a financing structure that is widely used in the Netherlands for developing social housing, said Harry Platte, corporate strategy adviser at Ymere, in an interview with PropertyEU. 'The concept is based on a revolving fund: we finance the social housing from the profits made on commercial developments.'

Dutch housing corporation Ymere is investing EUR 90 mln in the development of new housing in Osijek in Croatia. The project will be based on a financing structure that is widely used in the Netherlands for developing social housing, said Harry Platte, corporate strategy adviser at Ymere, in an interview with PropertyEU. 'The concept is based on a revolving fund: we finance the social housing from the profits made on commercial developments.'

Platte said there was a huge interest in the financing structure in Central and Eastern Europe. 'These countries need a lot of new investment to renovate existing stock and build new housing. We are now in talks with other Dutch housing corporations to see whether we can get some more projects off the ground.'

The project in Osijek revolves around the development of 1500 new housing units. Platte expects the project to get underway in the beginning of 2008.

Dutch housing corporations have recently come under scrutiny from European competition commissioner Nelie Kroes following complaints from commercial developers that they offer unfair competition.