Gov. Luis Fortuño has announced  several changes to his administration’s criollo stimulus plan, including a new program to provide assistance to consumers who want to acquire a home but cannot afford its closing costs.

Called The Closing Costs Housing Bonus Program, the new initiative will begin with a $20 million fund with which the government plans to provide a subsidy of up to 5% of a property’s selling price to be used to cover the closing costs.

The price of the residential property to be acquired must not exceed $200,000 and the participant’s maximum household income cannot be greater than $75,000 a year to qualify under the new program.

“This new program will benefit thousands of Puerto Rican families who qualify to acquire their home using the housing stimulus program and the subsidy program for social interest housing, but do not have the money to pay the closing costs,” Fortuño said during the 17th annual Housing Congress held Wednesday at the Conrad Condado Plaza Hotel & Casino in Condado.

Fortuño explained there will be a lien against the property requesting the repayment of the funds if the homeowner sells the home during the first 10 years of the mortgage. This penalty will not apply to teachers, police officers and professional nurses, he added.

The penalty will also not apply to those homeowners who participate in a qualified government or non-profit organization volunteer community program during the first year of the mortgage. In such cases, the homeowner is free to sell the property after two years without limitations.

According to Graham Castillo, president of local research and consultancy firm Estudios Técnicos Inc., there are some 6,000 unsold new residential units on the island. Sale of new residential units during the first quarter of this year amounted to approximately 2,500 or 50% below the 5,000 units sold during the same period in 2008. Some 9,500 new units were sold in 2008 and 10,000 in 2007.