Made Anthony Iswara, Jakarta – The government has rolled out new housing loan subsidies and opened the door for more citizens to access the facility amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which is expected to disrupt businesses and hit people's purchasing power.
It launched Rp 1.5 trillion (US$89.7 million) in mortgage subsidies for 175,000 low-income families nationwide and increased the salary ceiling for eligible recipients to Rp 8 million for all types of housing from the previous Rp 4 million for landed houses and Rp 7 million for low-cost apartments. The new provision takes effect on April 1.
The minimum wage varies across the country with a range of between Rp 1.7 million and Rp 4.3 million per month.
"We hope that housing subsidies will help low-income households to acquire decent and affordable housing, especially in the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic," Public Works and Housing Ministry infrastructure financing director general Eko "Heri" Djoeli Heripoerwanto said in a press statement on Tuesday.
Heri explained that the stimulus would be in the form of interest rate subsidies for loan installments (SSB) and down payment subsidies (SBUM). Out of the Rp 1.5 trillion, Rp 800 billion will be used for SSB and Rp 700 billion for SBUM.
The housing subsidies are part of a Rp 10.3 trillion stimulus package announced by the government in February to cushion the impacts of COVID-19 on household spending. The pneumonia-like disease has infected more than 1,700 people in the country with 170 fatalities and disrupted business activity as citizens are told to stay at home to limit the virus spread.
The new mortgage subsidies allow low-income households to pay a mortgage interest rate of just 5 percent per year, much lower than the 9 to 10 percent in the current housing loan market, with a tenure of up to 10 years. People living in Papua and West Papua provinces will pay 4 percent in interest per annum for a loan tenure of up to 20 years.
The government will then pay up any remaining interest rate differences.
For low-income people who buy a landed house, the government will provide a Rp 4 million mortgage down payment subsidy and Rp 10 million for those living in Papua and West Papua provinces, Heri said.
Three state-owned banks, namely Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), will disburse the subsidies.
"The Public Works and Housing Ministry still opens the opportunity for other banks that want to take part in the program so that low-income families will get as easy access as possible to the facility through the banks' networks," Heri said.
He expressed hope that the latest stimulus would enable the government to achieve its target to give mortgage subsidies to 330,000 low-income households this year.
In addition to the 175,000 families targeted by the new subsidies, the government will also support 88,000 poor families to get a house through the Housing Financing Liquidity Facility (FLPP) and 67,000 households through its new savings-based financial assistance.
"The government is making every possible effort to help low-income citizens to fulfill one of life's basic needs, which is to have a home," Heri added.
The government has been struggling to reduce the country's housing backlog, which stood at 7.6 million in 2015. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration aims to build 1.25 million houses this year in its commitment to build 1 million houses per year.
Since 2015, around 4.8 million houses have been constructed – 699,770 in 2015, 805,169 in 2016, 904,758 in 2017, 1.13 million in 2018 and more than 1.25 million in 2019.
Property developers expressed their appreciation for the government's new subsidies. Indonesian Settlement and Housing Developers Association (Apersi) chairman Junaidi Abdilah said in a statement that the association would adjust its targeted potential buyers accordingly through the subsidized housing loan mobile application Sikasep.
Developers Indonesia (PI) chairman Barkah Hidayat and National Housing Development Alliance (Apernas) Jaya secretary-general Risma Gandhi also urged banks to optimize their mortgage disbursements for the program.
"Problems over spreading awareness about the regulation usually happen between banks and their regional branches, delaying the process for regional developers," Risma said.
Paulus Totok Lusida of Real Estate Indonesia (REI) told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the stimulus could prop up the property sector, which saw an annual growth of only around 3.5 percent in the past few years. The sector relies heavily on subsidized housing programs, which account for half of the industry's revenue, according to REI members' data.
"At least the subsidies can maintain the sector's existence, because if it drops, it won't be easy to pull it back up again," Paulus said.