‘Mera Ghar-Mera Ashiana’: Housing scheme loan size enhanced up to Rs10m

KARACHI: The federal government has taken a step to boost housing finance and ease access for borrowers by raising the maximum loan limit under the “Mera Ghar – Mera Ashiana” scheme to Rs10 million. It has also expanded the eligible housing unit size from 5 Marla to 10 Marla, widening the scheme’s scope for prospective homeowners.

In a bid to boost affordable housing, in September last year, the federal government introduced a new Markup Subsidy and Risk Sharing Scheme under the title “Mera Ghar-Mera Ashiana” for Affordable Housing Finance.

The scheme covers the purchase of houses, flats, and plots, as well as construction of homes on already owned land. Initially, as per term and conditions of the scheme, the eligible size of a housing unit was up to 5 Marla or a flat/ apartment of up to 1,360 square feet.

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However, with the consultation of the stakeholders, the federal government made some changes in features of the scheme to facilitate the borrowers.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday announced that as per fresh amendment, the federal government has announced to increase the size of housing unit from 10 Marla to 10 Marla or 2720 sq ft, while, the eligible size of flat has also increased from 1,360 sq ft to 1500 sq ft.

With these changes, now the people can get loans for the housing unit up to 10 Marla or 1500 sq. ft flats.

Similarly, the federal government has enhanced maximum loan size by 180 percent from Rs 3.5 million to up to Rs 10 million with flat 5 percent customer/end user fixed pricing.

Other features of the Scheme shall remain the same. SBP has directed Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) to take necessary measures for proper dissemination of revised features of the scheme through their branch network and other means.

It may be mentioned here that the loans will be available for a tenor of up to 20 years, with the government offering markup subsidy for the first 10 years. End users will pay a fixed markup of 5 percent, while the bank price will be one-year KIBOR plus 3 percent. As per procedure, no processing costs or prepayment penalties will be charged to customers.

Loans will be provided on a 90:10 Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio, meaning borrowers will contribute 10 percent equity. The government will also provide risk coverage of 10 percent of the outstanding portfolio under the scheme on a first-loss basis.

All commercial banks, Islamic banks, microfinance banks (MFBs), and the House Building Finance Company Limited (HBFCL) have been designated as participating financial institutions (PFIs).

They have been instructed to widely disseminate information about the scheme through their branch networks and ensure smooth implementation while preventing misuse.

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