GHB promises 10,000 low-cost homes by year’s end, more to come
Affordable homes will become available for low-income earners in the next few months, with monthly instalments under Bt4,000, Chatchai Sirilai, president of the Government Housing Bank (GHB), has promised.
Those wanting to own a home worth up to Bt1 million could apply for mortgage loans in November and December, said Chatchai, with the about 10,000 houses initially available this year.
A mortgage loan package would soon be submitted to the bank’s board and the Cabinet, he said, and around Bt50 billion would be prepared.
Some 100,000 houses will become available this year through 2021, Chatchai pledged, as part of a government project initiated by Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak to provide one million homes for low-income people who can afford to pay no more than Bt4,000 a month in instalments.
“It’s better we get started on this now rather than doing nothing,” Chatchai said when asked when the bank would begin loaning to an estimated one million underprivileged people.
He said low-income people pay rent of Bt3,500 to Bt4,000 a month which would be better spent on repaying a mortgage, in instalments over 40 years. They would thus own their own homes. The bank could provide a Bt1-million mortgage loan with instalments set between Bt3,800 and Bt4,000.
Such potential homeowners typically do not maintain records on their income, he noted, but if they could show the bank proof of paying rent, they could obtain a mortgage loan.
Private-property developers are willing to provide cheap housing units if they’re confident about finding buyers, Chatchai said, so the GHB could also provide them with pre-financing and the buyers with post-financing.
Three major state-owned banks – Krung Thai, the Government Savings Bank and GHB – along with Bangkok Commercial Asset Management, Sukhumvit Asset Management and the Legal Execution Department and other state-owned specialised financial institutions could resell non-performing, asset-dispossessed homes to people in need.
The National Housing Authority and Treasury Department would also participate in the project, Chatchai said.
Cheaper units developed by the private sector would be available across the country and be profitable, he said.