Luanda - The National Housing Institute (INH) has presented a proposal for the reformulation of the financing system for access to housing loans, within the scope of Notice no. 9/23, of August 3, of the National Bank of Angola (BNA).
Within the framework of this notice, the BNA establishes special regimes for housing loans and construction, as well as defining the eligibility requirements, terms, conditions and costs applicable to these loans and treatment in the calculation of mandatory reserves.
On the basis of this document, the INH held a Public Consultation Meeting with commercial banks on the subject of “Housing challenges and impact measures”, which aimed to assess the degree of implementation of the Central Bank's instrument and present solutions to boost housing credit in the country.
Among the solutions, the participants defended the need to approve a Fiduciary Alienation of Property Collateral law that allows the borrower (client) to have possession of the house and share ownership with the loaner (bank) to avoid the mortgage model.
In addition, it was also proposed that the state subsidize the interest rate and reduce it by around three percent, with a maturity of 50 years, allowing the borrower's family members to take on the debt repayment.
According to INH consultant Augusto Fernandes, the fiduciary alienation mechanism aims to guarantee that the bank put the property up for auction if the borrower fails to comply with the contract and recover the investment made.
He recalled that to date, the urban planning and housing sector has built 350,000 houses with public funds, which still doesn't meet the demand for housing in Angola that records a deficit of roughly two million homes.
Given this scenario, the economist also defended the need for social housing to be subsidized by the state, for people who have no income or a minimum wage of around 70,000 kwanzas.
Commercial banks on their turn praised the National Housing Institute's initiative, but recommended an analysis of some implicit factors related to housing credit, such as the case of guarantees, red tape in properties’ registration, maturity of credit, and the resolution of bad credit conflicts.
As an example, the director and coordinator of BAI bank, Jorge Silva, said his bank has registered 79 housing loan applications, but according to BNA Notice 9, only 26 were approved and 39 refused.
According to him, the interest rate could be improved and that the major obstacle has to do with the documentation of the property, a fact that even occurs in large housing projects.
The National Housing Institute has held several consultation meetings on credit and the construction of housing, to gather data that will be used to formulate a proposal for a law on this matter.
Operating under the umbrella of the Ministry of Public Works, Urbanism and Housing (MINOPUH), the INH's mission is to ensure the implementation of the promotion and housing development policies, within the scope of human settlement programs and projects, manage the state's real estate assets, as well as supervise and control real the activities of this sector. ANM/QCB
