Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday announced plans by the National Housing Trust (NHT) to increase the limit for loans by $1 million, raise the ceiling for construction loans, while reducing interest rates for all contributors. He declared that now was the time for Jamaicans to pursue their dream of home ownership.
Jamaica House confirmed that effective May 1, interest rates for all NHT beneficiaries will decrease by one per cent; the entity’s loan limit will jump by 18 per cent from $5.5 million to $6.5 million; while construction loans will be set at the value of a two-bedroom house in the scheme where the service lot is purchased instead of the difference between the cost of the lot and the NHT loan limit.
Further, Holness said that the NHT’s minimum income band is to increase from $12,000 per week to $15,000 at the same zero per cent interest rate, “thereby allowing more persons to access the home grant”.
As a result, other income bands will be revised upwards and attract lower interest rates. Holness indicated, as an example, that a beneficiary who falls within the revised $32,001-$42,000 weekly income range and has a $5.5-million mortgage now pays six per cent interest, calculated at $38,144 per month.
Under the new regime, he said, the same beneficiary will pay three per cent interest, thereby reducing the monthly payment to $27,868.
“Now is the time to build house! Now is the time to buy house! Now is the time to make that critical investment,” Holness declared, noting that his administration has already cut the transfer tax rate to two per cent and instituted a flat rate for stamp duty payable on loans and securities.
“Don’t be afraid of prosperity,” he said, during his contribution to the 2019-2020 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives.
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