TANZANIA GETS NEW LENDER IN HOUSING FINANCE MARKET

The First Housing Finance Tanzania Ltd shareholder Mr. Conrad D’souza briefs reporters about the new lender in the mortgage finance market in Dar es Salaam over the weekend. It is the first dedicated Housing Finance Company in Tanzania promoted by Bank M in partnership with HDFC, IFC, Karimjee family and Sanjay Suchak. Mr. D’Souza is also a member of executive management and Chief Investor Relations Officer for HDFC. Others in the photo from left are Bank M Director Mr. Simon Gregory, Aris Group executive Chairman Mr. Sanjay Suchak, IFC Resident representative Mr. Dan Kasirye and Karimjee Jivanjee Director Mr. Mahmoud Karimjee.

A new mortgage financing firm, First Housing Company Limited, has been launched bringing into the market new affordable innovative mortgage products.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Omar Msangi said in Dar es Salaam at the weekend that it will start operations with four new mortgage products namely home purchase, improving an existing home, extending an existing home and financing the equity in a home.

“As pioneer in the housing finance market, the company is positioned to bring long term housing solutions to all Tanzanians having the fixed prime lending rate of 15 per cent which is the lowest rate for mortgages in the country,” he said.

He said the company is the first housing finance company to be licenced by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) in July and will provide mortgages with tenor up to 20 years.

With 40 per cent stake, Bank M Tanzania Limited has partnered with renowned international partners namely the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector firm the World Bank (15 per cent) in setting up a greenfield mortgage finance bank, First Housing Company Limited.

Others are the Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited India (HDFC) with 15 per cent share capital, the largest housing finance company in Asia and prominent local investors, namely Sanjay Suchak (15 per cent) and the Karimjee family of Tanzania (15 per cent).

Incorporated under the country’s laws, Mr Msangi said it took several years to make preparations for the housing finance company operations to take-off having its paid up capital of over 21bn/-.

The IFC Resident Representative for Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa Mr Dan kasirye said the fast growing global population and pressure from urbanisation is creating huge demand for affordable housing. Globally, 54 per cent of the population lives in urban areas today.

By 2045, the number of people living in cities will increase by 1.5 times to 6 billion, adding 2 billion more urban residents. With more than 80 per cent of global GDP generated in cities, urbanisation can contribute to sustainable growth if managed well by increasing productivity, allowing innovation and new ideas to emerge.

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