SBP allows housing loan on personal guarantee

KARACHI: In a bid to facilitate the applicants, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday eased housing loan conditions by allowing personal guarantee.

The SBP noted that applicants were currently facing difficulties in obtaining housing finance, especially for low cost housing, as banks were reluctant to take any risk in this regard (house not being completed on time or incomplete documentation).

“With an aim to facilitate the banks in extending low cost housing finance, SBP has allowed them to accept personal guarantee of third party until the housing unit is completed and the mortgage is perfected,” the SBP said in a statement. “The guarantee will remain valid for a maximum period of one year.”

According to SBP, this step would help promote home ownership of potential borrowers wishing to avail housing finance under Government Markup Subsidy Scheme issued by the central bank on October 12, 2020.

“Third party guarantee will cover the period from the disbursement of loan to the time when construction is completed and risk coverage becomes available by Pakistan Mortgage Refinance Company,” the ventral bank explained. “Acceptance of third party personal guarantee will provide additional comfort to banks to extend low cost housing finance, an area in which banks have keen interest for its business potential.”

It is expected that with this move, banks would increase their efforts to ensure that the benefits of the mark-up subsidy scheme reached marginalised segments of the society, the statement read.