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Sep 11, 2007:
Affordable housing in South Africa got a shot in the arm on Tuesday when Absa, the country's largest retail bank, inked an agreement with the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement - AFD) to borrow 40m euros.
The concessionary loan finance will be used to help Absa Affordable Housing customers buy their own homes and also to significantly build capacity and skills in the country's low-cost housing sector.
"We are delighted AFD is helping home-buyers, who have joint household monthly incomes of less than R7,500, buy homes of their own," says Gavin Opperman, managing executive of Absa Home Loans.
"We believe all South Africans should be afforded the opportunity to have a roof over their heads that they can call their own."
The loan, which is repayable over ten years, follows months of negotiations.
AFD is a French government institution set up to provide development financing especially for urban, rural and infrastructural development, as well as industry, financial systems, education and health.
Despite the building of over 2,4m low-income houses over the past ten years, South Africa's housing backlog continues to be a challenge.
Government statistics put the number of families currently living in informal dwellings at around 2,3m - an increase of 26% over the same period. – I-Net Bridge
