NBC launches home loans scheme

National Bank of Commerce (NBC) launched its mortgage financing scheme in Dar es Salaam , promising customers an easy access to affordable home financing facilities.

“Many people dream to own their own homes...NBC home loan will enable our customers to purchase houses, renovate or complete their dream homes,” said the bank’s Managing Director, Mr Edward Marks, at the launching breakfast at a city hotel.

The ‘Hamia Kwako’ scheme, Mr Marks said, will benefit salaried employees working in different organisations subject to satisfying the set criteria.

Launching the scheme, deputy minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Ms Angela Kairuki, welcomed the loan facility but challenged the commercial banks to rethink their high interest rates.

She said through the Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company (TMRC) some 20 commercial banks have already committed over 300bn/- in enabling Tanzanians to own homes but said the demand was still very high.

Ms Kairuki said the government was looking on the possibility of removing Value Added Tax (VAT) on housing as a strategy to reduce the cost of owning a home in the country.

She invited more stakeholders into the real estate sector, which she said has immense investment opportunities. “There is huge market that still exists for real estate developers...the demand for housing stands at three million units and grows at one per cent monthly,” she said.

She commended the National Housing Corporation (NHC) for a job well done but noted at the rate of 15,000 housing units a year, the public utility can hardly meet the growing demand for houses.

NBC Head of Retail Lending, Mr Andrew Lyimo, said to start with the bank will this year inject 5bn/- to qualified applicants, noting that the loans ranging between 20m/- and 300m/- are repayable in up to 20 years.

He said the scheme will help the bank customers acquire decent houses without necessarily going through the hassles of accumulating personal saving to meet the cost of constructing the house.

It takes between 10 and 15 years to construct a house from personal saving. According to available data, the country faces an acute shortage of 3,000,000 houses, with the demand growing at an annual rate of one per cent monthly.
Source: Daily News, reported by Masato Masato, from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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