The Asian Development Bank has approved a second tranche of 20 billion tenge to Otbasy Bank for the women's mortgage program Umai. The new funding amount is more than double the previous tranche, reports infohub.kz.
Otbasy Bank recalled that the first tranche of 9 billion tenge was received in August. The program generated significant interest: on August 31, 855 applications were submitted, and the limit was exhausted in just seven hours.
In the previous phase, the terms of the Umai program included an interest rate of 14.8% per annum (annual effective rate from 16.3% to 16.8%), a maximum loan amount of 50 million tenge, and a down payment starting from 20% in Astana and Almaty and from 15% in the regions.
"If you did not manage to submit an application on August 31, such an opportunity will be available in the next phases. We will additionally announce the start date for accepting applications, the participation procedure, and the program terms on the official pages of Otbasy Bank," the bank noted.
Working women with official income and pension contributions for at least the last six months will be able to participate in the program. A mortgage can be taken out for a term of six months to 25 years.
Under the program, one can purchase housing on both the primary and secondary markets. In a new building, it is allowed to buy an apartment, including in a building under construction, if the property has a guarantee from the Kazakhstan Housing Company. For the secondary market, a restriction applies: the house must have been built no earlier than 2016.
The program also allows not only purchasing a first apartment but also improving housing conditions by buying a second or third home. Pension savings can be used for the down payment. In addition, the borrower can involve up to two co-borrowers.
Deputy Chairman of the Bank's Management Board Zhansultan Matai stated that the requirements for Umai will not be tightened even amid increased demand.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that at the launch of the Umai mortgage, Kazakh women faced problems when submitting applications online. Some experienced a frozen electronic queue, while others could not complete their submissions. Otbasy Bank said the cause was high load on the service. As a result, only about 100 women received online preliminary approval.