Bank Maskan (housing bank) has launched the Housing Premium Fund to provide homebuyers with additional loans of 400-600 million rials ($13,200-$19,900) based on the areas where they dwell.
New loans are offered as a supplement to Maskan’s usual mortgages for buying or building housing units, the bank’s website said on Friday.
Both first-time homebuyers and those who have already used its loans in the past can apply; however, the scheme does not cover applicants holding the Housing Saving Account -- a long-term mortgage scheme for first-time homebuyers which will take off next year (starting March 21).
Expansion
Mohammad Hashem Botshekan, Maskan’s CEO said Saturday that his bank would increase its capital in the coming two months, in an attempt to expand its financial services.
“We will have a more active role in financing infrastructure projects and opening new branches as the bank receives new resources,” Ministry of Roads and Urban Development’s news website quoted him as saying.
He noted that Maskan would also benefit from capital requirement cuts—a provision made by the Central Bank of Iran to reward law-abiding lenders -- and said this would energize its lending power.
The bank is also planning to finance urban infrastructure projects, including urban railroads, and has already financed the Tehran-Pardis freeway (in Tehran Province).
