TANZANIA: NMB OFFERS MORTGAGE LOANS FOR 'DREAM HOUSES'

NATIONAL Microfinance Bank (NMB) says the mortgage loans that it provides are an important opportunity for Tanzanians to own houses.

This was unveiled in Dar es Salaam by the NMB product officer, Mr Mbaruku Nyenga at the just ended Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF).

"NMB Mortgage Loan is designed to assist Tanzanians to own a dream house," he said, adding that, "With just a saving of 20 per cent of the house value, we will do the rest just to make your dream a reality," He said a minimum loan amount of 20m/- and the maximum of 500m/- which is available to employees and business people as well as professionals.

With the loan product, he said a customer may get a loan of 80 per cent of house sales value and can choose flexible terms for repayments of up to 15 years.

"It is a unique opportunity where a joint borrowing of husband and wife with spouse consent is allowed," he said. He remarked further that a customer can enjoy the bank's services in a network of over 150 branches and over 500 ATMs.

Mortgage lending is the primary mechanism used in many countries to finance private ownership of residential and commercial property.

Development of real estate sector has now become evident in many towns and cities in Tanzania. NMB is one of the 12 Tanzania Mortgage Refinancing Company (TMRC) shareholding banks. Others are CRDB, AZANIA, TIB, EXIM, NMB, DCB, NIC, ABC, NBC, PBZ, BOA and I&M.

TMRC is specialized financial institution that provides long-term funding to banks by raising bonds in the capital markets. Initially TMRC started lending to Primary Mortgage Lenders (PML) utilizing a 30 million US dollars loan from the World Bank.

The ultimate goal of the TMRC is to source funds in Tanzanian financial market as efficient as possible and channels the same to member banks at competitive rate which will facilitate access to housing by Tanzanian population while contributing to the development of capital markets.