NCB now offering 9.5% mortgage

National Commercial Bank (NCB) has re-entered the local mortgage market with a single-digit interest rate loan offering. The new facility, introduced earlier this week, features interest rates as low as 9.5 per cent and up to $200,000 cashback for qualified applicants who apply by August 31, 2012. The financial institution said qualified borrowers will have up to 30 years to repay their loans and access to financing of up to 90 per cent of the cost to purchase the house. Additionally, NCB said the facility can be combined with National Housing Trust (NHT) mortgage benefits.

Read more at http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/NCB-offers-9-5--mortgages_10766071

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Your home in Jamaica : Rent, Build or Buy?

Amost all adults are faced with the choice and challenge of making the decision to build, buy or rent their home. While renting your home may be unavoidable in the early years of adulthood, the time will come when a decision must be made on whether to continuue renting, or to make the leap to buy or build your dream home. Mortgage rates in Jamaica have been trending down and some lenders are now quoting single-digit rates. Both building and buying are now considerably more affordable options for the potential new homeowner, however the expenses of a homeowner also differ significantly from a tenant.

This article by the Jamaica Gleaner highlights the opinions of a few local real estate industry professionals on the rent, build or buy subject, and is a very good read for persons who are now faced with this decision

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Mortgage business in Jamaica trends upward

According to the National Land Agency (NLA), which registers all new transactions, Jamaican mortgage loan providers did marginally higher business in 2011 as compared to 2010. The 12,138 new mortgages registered in Jamaica in 2011 is 2.5% more than the 11,834 registered in 2010. In 2011 however, the Jamaican Government reduced the stamp duty charge on refinancing transactions to a nominal J$100, and so it is expected that a number of mortgagors would have switched their loans to companies with lower interest rates. The NLA is unable to say what proportion of 2011 mortgage transactions might have been refinanced properties.

In the last listing of assets dated September 2011 by the BOJ for Jamaica's building societies, the data shows a 3% improvement in mortgage loans year over year. JNBS continues to lead the sector with J$39.16 billion in residential loans, VMBS had J$26.33 billion in loans, a 5.7% reduction, and Scotia Jamaica Building Society recorded a 23% increase in its portfolio to J$9.7 billion. FirstCaribbean International Building Society grew its loans by 5% to J$8.11 billion.

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Jamaica missing out on timeshare market

President of the Jamaica Association of Villas and Apartments (JAVA), Vana Taylor, says  because of delay legislative delays, local villa and strata property owners are missing out on business in the timeshare market. Taylor says  a new and reliable income stream would open for small players in the tourism if property owners were allowed to sell accommodation in time-blocks, and room utilisation rates would grow above the current average of about 30 per cent occupancy throughout the year. JAVA has 400  apartment and villa owners as members, while the Strata Commission has 1,532 strata corporations on record across Jamaica. The timeshare law has been under discussion for over six years.

More at http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120115/business/business1.html

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WIHCON segments business model to include luxury home offering

West indies Home Contractors (WIHCON), has earned a reputation for constructing homes in Jamaica for buyers with modest budgets. The company introduced the first-ever housing development in Jamaica (Mona Heights) and is well known for its Portmore housing solutions. The company has now taken the decision to expand its portfolio to include luxury as well as budget homes.

The company recently formally segmented its business model to include WIHCON Select, which will offer up-market products like Somerset Homes, Sunflower Manor and Aqueduct Gates. WIHCON Homes, which will continue to bring new designs, technical capabilities and quality products to satisfy first-time buyers

The unveiling of Somerset Homes, in Graham Heights, Kingston, follows the successful introduction of WIHCON's two other up-market developments in Mona, Sunflower Manor and Aqueduct Gates.
 

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Low property tax compliance in Montego Bay

Mayor of Montego Bay, Jamaica, Charles Sinclair, revealed during  a recent Rotary Club of Montego Bay East's meeting, that only 45 per cent of landowners in St James are compliant with their property tax payments. Singleing out several residential communities, Sinclair said Porto Bello has a compliance rate of 14 per cent, noting that only 106 lots out of the 750 are being paid for. He listed the percentage compliance rates for Westgate Hills at 32; Ironshore, 28; Coral Gardens, 42; Spring Farm Estate, 43; and Torado Heights, 34.

The mayor urged landowners to commit themselves, as property taxes are used by the parish council to go towards the maintenance of the city's streetlights; collection of residential waste, and road repairs.
 

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COK launches 10% mortgage loan

COK Sodality Co-operative Credit Union Limited recentlt announced  that its shareholders can now access 90 per cent mortgage financing, at  an interest rate of 10 per cent, for amounts up to J$25 million. The new COK Sodality loan facility, called Home Ownership Made Easy (HOME), is for 25 years and available to members who have amassed an amount equal to "the minimum percentage share amount required" for the HOME loan. 

COK also said it has compressed the closing costs attached to new mortgages to 4.5 per cent; and that commitment, legal and processing fees have been combined within a range of 2.5 per cent to 4.0 per cent of the loan amount.
The new offer is the latest in a round of rate cuts by mortgage institutions, the lowest being from GSB Credit Union which has cut rates twice since March and now offers home loans at 9.58 per cent. Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS), the leader in the mortgage market, in August began offering new rates, ranging from 11.49 per cent to a minimum of 9.8 per cent.
 

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UDC will launch REIT to drive urban redevelopment

In the near future individuals will have the opportunity to purchase equity stakes in revenue earning properties in Jamaica owned by the  Urban Development Corporation (UDC). This financial year the UDC will list properties on the Jamaica Stock Exchange as part of an aggressive move towards the capital markets. UDC holdings include the waterfront properties of Oceana Hotel and Ocean Towers in downtown Kingston.

This is part of a broad strategy by the organisation to allow the private sector to drive development and represents a shift from traditional policy whereby the public sector would acquire lands, develop properties and finance projects. Finance Minister Audley Shaw gave the go-ahead for the UDC to move towards raising funds on the capital market.

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Richmond Jamaica hailed as the future of Jamaican housing

Jamaica's first green community, the Richmond Housing Development (RDC) in St Ann, Jamaica was officially launched on Saturday, September 17, with Housing, Environment and Water Minister Dr Horace Chang calling for other developers to follow RDC's chairman Lee Issa's example. Dr Chang hailed the development as the future of housing in Jamaica and said RDC had showcased the possibilities and paved the way for future improvements to the way we build and, ultimately, the way we impact the earth.

Units at the Palms, consisting of three-bedroom, two-bathroom houses, boast thermo bars on the roof to reduce heat penetration, thereby reducing the necessity to use cooling systems such as air-condition units or fans. Water heaters and street lights in the community are also run by solar energy. The development has an eco-friendly sewage disposal facility, and also provides the option of rain-water harvesting. The community also has guidelines for residents that will ensure that the area remains green, including a ban on the use of high-phosphate fertiliser on the lots, and restrictions against cutting down trees of a certain size without the consent of all owners in the community.
 

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JNBS drops upkeep savings component of mortgage payments

In an effort to to make loans more serviceable in the current difficult economic climate, the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) has dropped the upkeep savings component of its mortgage payments. The largest building society in Jamaica took the decision to phase out the upkeep savings component of monthly mortgage payments on existing accounts to ease the repayment burden of mortgagors. The upkeep savings component on new mortgages was discontinued from January of 2009.

Statistics released by the Bank of Jamaica show that non-performing loans — loans unserviced for over 90 days — among the four local building societies were $5.5 billion or 6.4 per cent of gross loans at the end of March 2011, around the same level at the corresponding period last year.

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