Home Ownership Scheme - More benefits for home buyers |22 February 2016

Families eligible for the recently announced 25% reduction in the purchase of their house under the new component of the Home Ownership Scheme will start to reap the benefit as from next month when the mechanism will come into effect, Minister Christian Lionnet has announced.

The minister responsible for Land Use and Housing said work is underway to finalise the operation of this component of the Home Ownership Scheme.

The Home Ownership Scheme was introduced in 2005 aimed at enabling many Seychellois families to become owners of their homes much faster.

Over the past 10 years government has continued to invest in the housing programme through different schemes. This year, in his State of the nation address last week, President James Michel  announced yet another component to the Home Ownership Scheme to enable families who are not benefitting to also become owners of their homes as fast as possible. This will be through a reduction of 25% on the price of the house for those who are on a house purchase agreement with the Property Management Company (PMC).

“Other people who are renting houses from the PMC and who wish to join the house purchase agreement will also enjoy this 25% reduction,” President Michel announced in his address.

He added that other tenants of the PMC who do not wish to join the house purchase agreement scheme and who work for a minimum wage will receive a contribution from the Agency for Social Protection to meet 50% of their rent.

Explaining the 25% reduction, Minister Lionnet said that on Ile Perseverance for instance the highest price for a house is R450,000 payable over a 30-year period in monthly installments of over R2,451 and therefore with the reduction if a person wants, he or she will now pay R1,606 per month instead.

“But if a person feels comfortable with the current monthly amount he or she is paying, then the number of years for repayment will be reduced considerably from 30 years to 17 years,” Minister Lionnet explained.

“This is a great benefit for homeowners who choose this option. Another example is if a family paying for a R356,000 house in a monthly installment of R1,980, with the reduction it will now only pay a monthly R1,255. But it is up to the family to choose if it wants to take the surplus money to spend on other needs of its members or opt for a reduced length of house repayment,” Minister Lionnet pointed out.

Meanwhile the president also announced that this year government will also intensify repair and reconstruction works where necessary on housing estates like Pointe Larue and Baie Lazare.