Delali Dzidienyo
APPLICANTS OF any of First National Bank’s home loan products can now get up to 1.5% interest rate discount on the products.
This is another approach to make it even easier for more Ghanaians to get onto the property ladder as the bank closes the curtains on the Year of Home Ownership – YOHO 2021.
Delali Dzidzienyo, Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at First National Bank, who disclosed this, explained that this is also in response to the many applications coming through after the YOHO initiative was launched earlier this year.
He said First National Bank announced the reduction in interest rates on all home loan products as part of the yearlong Year of Home Ownership – YOHO campaign.
Delali said, “We are thrilled by the many applications that have come through since we made that bold declaration to help Ghanaians both home and abroad to acquire a property with our suite of home loan offerings. Even though weare aware of the huge housing deficit and the fact that property acquisition is relevant to many people, the massive adoption of this initiative reinforces the need for all within the housing sector to trigger some actions to fix this”.
While there are interventions like the optimisation of the process in acquiring a property, innovations with building materials such as NELPLAST’s plastic waste brick production can bridge the gap of the housing deficit.
Ultimately, tackling the hurdle of high interest rates, for instance, will immediately impact property acquisition in Ghana.
That is why the conversation on the housing deficit in Ghana is still topical as the demands for homes remain unmet, partly due to the availability of resources to scale up supply, and then the inability of the wider population to access funds to either build or buy.
For all players in the entire value chain of housing, the availability of funds is a crucial need, but the expense of borrowing these funds depends on interest rates.
Higher interest rates can add to the overall cost of both the provision and acquisition. Lower interest rates can reduce the overall cost of these expenditures. This means that changes in interest rates can impact changes in consumption and investment spending, and thus aggregate demand.
A business desk report