PR to provide 30% interest free loan for SOS

But applicants will have to first secure a loan for the remainder amount from commercial banks.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Pakatan Rakyat government would provide a 30% loan without interest for the Shared Ownership Scheme (SOS) soon to enable low income earners own affordable homes.

Disclosing this at the Penang legislative assembly yesterday, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (DAP – Air Putih) said the 30% loan would top up the 70% bank loan secured by house buyers, who could not obtain 90 or 100% loan from commercial banks.

For a start, eligible low-cost home buyers can buy a townhouse unit in Taman Sungai Duri Permai, Sungai Duri with a 30% interest-free funding from state government.

Each applicant needs to secure a 70% housing loan from commercial banks while the balance 30% loan would be provided by the state government .

The applicants need to repay the state loan without any interest charged.

The state government would purchase 104 units in Taman Sungai Duri Permai and resell each unit for RM38,000 to eligible buyers.

Lim said the state government decided to introduce the SOS after it found that the Finance Ministry’s Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme had failed to help the lower income group to secure full bank loans to buy affordable houses.

House-buyers have to first register with the state’s housing department to purchase the Taman Sungai Duri Permai units and their applications vetted for eligibility.

Penang is the first state in the country to introduce SOS.