State housing bank told to extend loan repayment period to 85 years
Finance Ministry instructs GHB to consider extended loan repayment period and other measures to cut down on NPLs
In a bid to cut down on unpaid housing mortgages, the Government Housing Bank (GHB) has been instructed to extend the loan repayment period to 85 years.
Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said on Monday that the move is to reduce the number of housing loans that fall under the special mention (SM) and non-performing loans (NPLs) groups.
A loan enters the SM group when it has not been paid between 30 and 90 days and is considered an NPL if it has been defaulted by more than 90 days.
“Extending the repayment period will alleviate people’s debt burden and boost their payback ability, reducing the risk of becoming NPLs,” said Pichai, who also holds the deputy PM’s post.
Under the scheme, the cap on repayment period for general customers will be extended to 80 years from 60 and to 85 years from 70 for civil servants and state enterprise employees.
The ministry is hoping to reduce NPLs in the housing loan category to 5% from the current 5.7% by the end of the year.
Pichai added that he has also instructed the GHB to expand their loan limits for homes worth between 5 and 10 million to allow more clients to access the fund. Previously GHB has been mainly focusing on low-income earners who can afford homes costing no more than 3 million baht.
“From now on, we expect to see 50 to 70 billion baht worth of loans being granted every quarter by the GHB,” he said.
He also pointed out that currently there are some 5 trillion baht worth of housing loans granted, accounting for about 30% of the country’s gross domestic product.
“These new measures are estimated to help push the portfolio of housing loans to 50% of the GDP, so more people can buy a home,” he said.
Along with extending the repayment period and loan limits, the GHB was also instructed to revise its interest rate, consider granting a grace period of six months to a year and extend the fixed rate period, the finance minister said.
GHB managing director Kamolphob Weerapon, meanwhile, said that the bank has earmarked 170 billion baht for loans in the second half of the year. Of this, 2 billion baht will be for homes worth 5 to 10 million baht.
In the first half of 2024, GHB granted some 90 billion baht of loans, plus another 10 billion baht of loans to customers who have opened the Happy Home saving account in the bank.
