Over 2000 mortgages approved by NBS since August 2020 – Finance Minister

…over 1100 processed so far for 2022

Since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government took office in August 2020, over 2000 mortgages have been approved for Guyanese families to build their homes through the New Building Society.
This was shared by Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh on Tuesday. He added that NBS has played a remarkable role in advancing his Government’s housing drive.
The Ali-led Administration is geared at fulfilling its manifesto promise of 50,000 house lots in five years, meaning that the country will see an unprecedented housing boom throughout this time. It also translates to more persons applying at financial institutions to commence construction on their new plot of land.
Dr Singh informed, “The scheme has also responded phenomenally in improving access and the ease of access to mortgages. From August 2020 to now, you have over 2000 new mortgages. That’s a number to contemplate. This institution alone. That’s 2000 Guyanese families who now have a loan from the NBS to build a home on very likely a plot of land that was granted to them by this People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government.”
For 2022 thus far, over 1100 mortgages to the tune of $9 billion have been approved.
Last September, NBS introduced a host of relief measures on mortgages, such as reduced interest rates and a higher loan ceiling, in order to make homeownership more affordable.
The financial institution, which mainly deals with home loans, had committed to Government to release approximately $20 billion of its cash resources to support the aggressive housing drive across the country.
The interest rate on loans from $1 million to $4 million was reduced to 3.50 per cent from 4 per cent. For loans above $4 million up to $9 million, the interest was reduced from 5.95 per cent to 3.75 per cent.
An interest rate of 5.70 per cent, instead of the previous 5.95 per cent, is now applied to the loan bracket of above $9 million up to $20 million.
With these slashed interest rates, some 9634 NBS borrowers would benefit from the reduction of $210 million in their instalments for 2022 and the duration of the loan period.
In addition to the reduced interest rates, NBS had also increased its loan ceiling from $15 million to $20 million, and with the slashed rates, borrowers will still be paying approximately the same instalments.
Next year, the financial institution would also change the interest calculation to that of reducing the monthly balance upon the payment of every monthly sum due from January. Further, NBS has removed the stipulation for persons to have a certain amount of money at the commencement of the construction phase.
NBS now takes 24 hours to approve a mortgage, after which the filing of documents to the Deeds Registry and other Government agencies should be done within 48 hours, thus reducing the waiting time for borrowers to access their approved funds. (G12)