Disgruntled flat winners told to secure housing loans by October 15
Some flat winners are unhappy with what they call “a forced entry into a ruinous loan scheme” after the central bank devised an affordable housing loan scheme to help pay for flats built in Malé by a subsidiary of India’s Tata Group.
04 Sep 2017, 9:00 AM
Winners of flats under the previous government’s Veshi Fahi Malé social housing programme have been told by the state-owned Housing Development Corporation to secure loans before a deadline of October 15.
The HDC’s announcement last Tuesday came after complaints about delays in introducing a new affordable housing loan scheme devised by the central bank to help make payments for flats built in Malé by a subsidiary of India’s Tata Group.
The flat winners were previously told to either pay MVR2 million (US$130,000) upfront or obtain home loans with a down payment of at least MVR400,000 (US$25,940), a price out of reach for middle or low-income families.
After months of uncertainty for the 288 flat winners – several of whom were deemed ineligible for commercial bank loans – the central bank in late August enacted regulations mandating banks and financial institutions to join its new loan scheme and allocate at least 10 percent of income for low-interest housing loans.
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