Bank of Thailand relaxes Loan to Value to boost sluggish property market
PHOTO: booking.com
The Bank of Thailand says it will relax the Loan to Value (LTV) for homebuyers purchasing residences together and that borrowers or co-borrowers applying for a loan under the first home buyers rule and who do not own any other residence would be given a 90% mortgage on a condominium and 95% for a single detached house and townhouse.
The “co-borrower” is defined as a borrower supporting the family in its bid to obtain a mortgage to buy a residence but who will not become the owner of that residence.
Issara Boonyoung, CEO of Kanda Group, chairman of Business Housing Association, says he’s in favour of relaxing the LTV.
“We believe that the relaxation of the LTV in relation to co-borrowers will see the property market improve by up to two per cent for the rest of this year. This market represents about 20% of the total property market value, which is expected to be worth about 760 billion baht this year.”
He added that the relaxing of the rule will open the opportunity for co-borrowers to make a down payment of about 10% for condominium and 5% for single detached house and townhouse under the LTV first home concept.
The transfer of residences on hold this year has continued to drop and currently stands at 7%, which is better than the early estimates of 10%.
The LTV, which became effective on April 1, 2019, resulted in a drop in the property market in the second quarter of this year, as most homebuyers sped up the transfers of their residential projects and completed them in the first quarter. This had a direct impact on the financial results of property firms, with most announcing a double-digit drop in the second quarter.
SOURCE: The Nation
