Minister of National Planning and Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam has called on real estate companies to make the housing units more affordable in order to solve the housing problems faced in the country.
Speaking at the function held to inaugurate the Living Expo, Minister Aslam said real estate businesses can play a significant role in attending to the housing problems. To depict the significance of the issue, the minister quoted the 20,000 applications received by the government the last time a social housing scheme was launched.
The minister further noted there is a mismatch between the income and rentals. While only 17,000 families receive a monthly income of above USD 972, only 8,000 households receive a monthly income of between USD 972 to USD 1,945 and only 1,000 families receive a monthly income of over USD 3,242. Therefore, the planning minister called real estate companies to make the housing units more affordable for people.
Minister Aslam also said all stakeholders in the expo contribute directly and indirectly as they are either builders, agencies, or financial institutions, and hence, urged everyone to make the units more affordable based on a market analysis. The minister said the interest rate of 11 percent on housing loans are also too high. He highlighted only 5-6% is charged as interest in housing loans by companies even in developed nations.
The three-day expo will exhibit new products from housing companies in addition to networking meetings between the companies.