Government Working To Make Housing More Affordable

INITIATIVES TAKEN TO INCREASE AFFORDABILITY FOR HOUSING...SAYS PM GOLDING              

Government continues to take initiatives to ensure the affordability of housing for ordinary individuals in keeping with the commitment of the Golding-led administration.  

Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the Gleaner's Editors forum on Tuesday (August 25) that Government's initiatives to make housing more affordable for ordinary individuals will include extending the life of the mortgage to 70 years.  "This makes good sense because people are living longer. People are active and healthy longer and therefore they can afford to service a mortgage longer. We have made certain changes in relation to how people can combine to secure a mortgage. Our challenge now is how to keep the price of houses as low as possible", the Prime Minister said.  

He explained that in extending the life of the mortgage up to 70 years the monthly payment is reduced. "You end up paying more interest but we did this to see if we could expand the affordability so that people who may have been deprived of a mortgage may now find that they can afford a mortgage and be approved for one," noted Mr. Golding.  

The Prime Minister announced that he had also asked the National Housing Trust (NHT) to revisit the question of equity share mortgages.  

"Equity share mortgages is very popular in Germany. You buy a piece of the house and live in the whole house and you have a period of ten  or 15 years at which point it is hoped that your economic fortunes have improved sufficiently so that you can then buy the other piece of the house, that you didn't own in the first place.