“I instruct Governor State Bank (SBP) Reza Baqir and President National Bank (NBP) Arif Usmani… that banks provide ease to the house loan seekers,” said PM Khan while virtually addressing the telethon on low-cost housing loan on Sunday. The premiere tested positive for COVID19 on March 21 and is currently under home quarantine.
The telethon allowed loan seekers to call and directly talk with the prime minister. Most of the applicants complained of lengthy and complicated process of applying and obtaining house loans under the government’s housing loan scheme. The program was simultaneously telecasted on both state-run Pakistan Television and different private channels and was attended by Senator Shibli Faraz, NPHA chairman retired Lt-Gen Anwar Ali Hyder, SBP Governor Reza Baqir, NBP president Arif Usmani and SBP Executive Director Samar Hasnain.
During the address, PM Khan stressed that preference would be given to widows and differently abled persons under this housing scheme. He further said that this is the first time that the salaried class and the people who have no money were getting a chance to get their own houses as the NPHP is designed in such a way that the beneficiaries that were paying house rents could now use the same money to pay for the housing loan installments.
The beneficiaries of the housing loans would have to pay a monthly installment of Rs6,600 for Rs1 million loan, Rs13,199 for Rs2m loan, Rs19,799 for Rs3m loan, Rs26,398 for Rs4m loan and Rs32,998 for Rs5m loan, according to the details revealed by The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The government has revised its markup subsidy scheme of housing finance significantly to align with the prevailing housing market dynamics in its effort to promote low cost and affordable home ownership among low to middle-income groups, SBP announced had announced on Thursday.
The revised scheme aims to make access to housing finance easier for a large number of households who currently do not possess a house.
PM Khan said throughout the world, people got their houses through bank loan mortgage system but it had not been a practice in Pakistan. According to SBP’s governor, only one per cent people in the country built their houses through banks loans.
He said that the country is under debt and wealth creation is the need of the hour, therefore the NPHP project is a vital project as it would boost the economy.
Senator Shibli Faraz who was present at the meeting said that it was the starting of the fulfillment of the dream of transforming Pakistan into a welfare state.
SBP’s governor said that the bank had eased the loan conditions and standardised the list of documents required for housing loan to facilitate the applicants.
The applicants were required to provide a copy of CNIC, two passport sized photos, salary slip in case of a job or copy of rent agreement of a shop or a house to help banks to assess their income and fix an installment.
The NBP president said the people could directly contact him through phone no. 03025567776 in case of any glitch in their loan process.
Moreover, 16 offices had been established to register complaints and guide the applicants of the housing loan.
NPHA chairman said the government had announced extending Rs300,000 subsidy for the construction of each first 100,000 houses to be built under the NPHP.
In a plan to further the ease the process of house loaning, the amount of loans has been increased and now people can get loan for purchasing a constructed house as well, announced the SBP executive director.