KMRC to provide affordable mortgages through banks, SACCOs
NAIROBI – The Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company [KMRC], a public-private partnership established to provide mortgage liquidity facilities to banks, microfinance institutions, and SACCOs, has made its home loans attractive and affordable.
Local media in Kenya report that the steps include eliminating a requirement that anyone seeking a mortgage make an upfront payment of 10 percent of the property to be purchased before accessing the mortgage and another 5 percent to cover transaction costs such as legal and appraisal fees.
As an illustration, to buy a house of Ksh 8 million, a buyer needed to come up with a 10 percent deposit of Ksh 800,000 plus another Ksh 400,000 for transaction costs, hence an upfront cost amounting Ksh 1.2mln. As of today, the buyer will no longer need to come up with the 1.2mln, as they will only need to demonstrate an ability to service a loan of Ksh 8.4mln.
KMRC CEO, Johnstone Oletetia, said they have disbursed Ksh8.1 billion to nine banks and 11 SACCOs, with the banks accounting for 80 percent of the funds. The SACCO that has taken the largest amount of money is Ksh 500mln, while for the banks is Ksh 3bln.
KMRC provides competitive, low-interest, fixed, long-term finance to participating primary lenders at 5 percent, with a repayment period of up to 25 years. KMRC provides loans to mortgage lenders, pegged at Ksh 8mln in Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado and Ksh 6mln in other parts of the country.
The facility is accessible to individual borrowers whose monthly salary is not more than Ksh 150,000. The mortgage advances are refinanced through concessional funding by the World Bank and African Development Bank [AfDB].
KMRC also provides bigger mortgages of more than Ksh 8mln for developers handling massive housing projects-these; housing loans are also refinanced by the World Bank and AfDB.
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