FBC Building Society has provided mortgage loans in excess of US$40 million for its own projects and direct mortgage lending since 2010.
This was revealed by FBC Building Society’s chairman, Ben Kumalo, when the financial institution’s mortgage financing arm handed over Hippo Gardens in Belgravia to its owners last Friday. The project has 15 two-bed-roomed garden flats
“To date, FBC Building Society has provided mortgage loans in excess of US$40 million. This year the building society has set aside an additional US$10 million for mortgage lending to qualifying clients with the requisite 25 percent deposit,” Kumalo said.
The building society’s mandate is to mobilise savings and promote home ownership in Zimbabwe. FBC Building Society is directly involved in residential property development across the the country to low, medium and high income earners.
Zimbabwe currently has a housing backlog estimated to be at 1,2 million houses.
It would take considerable time and effort to completely meet this demand considering that all sectors of the economy were under performing and that government, which is expected to be at the forefront of housing development, has little or no money for development.
Presenting the Mid-Term Fiscal Policy review last Thursday, Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, said the country’s budget deficit would worsen to an estimated year-end level of US$1 billion as revenue collections continue to underperform.
This comes after under-performance of revenue against expenditure resulted in a cumulative budget deficit of US$623,2 million in the six months to June, far above the full year target of US$150 million.
“It is against this background that we, as the mortgage financing arm of FBC Holdings, have taken initiatives to roll out low, medium and high density properties across the nation. We believe by so doing we are playing a very important role in meeting one of the basic needs of the nation, that is reduction of the country’s housing backlog,” said Kumalo.
He said FBC Building Society had become a “one-stop-shop” for a wide range of financial services encompassing mortgage financing, property development, retail banking and treasury service.
“The building society’s quest for success in providing lasting solutions to customer needs saw it embarking on this housing project (Hippo Gardens)… FBC Building Society continues to grow in stature as it continues in its quest to develop housing properties for the nation,” he said.
In 2015, FBC Building Society introduced its first high-rise project dubbed Tyran Mews. The project consists of 24-three-bedroomed upmarket duplex flats.
FBC Building Society is currently offering fully developed properties in Greendale at 2 Rossal Avenue, 27 Chaplin road and at 159 Acturus road. In Newlands the properties are at 6 Cambridge road while in Waterfalls they are located at corner Masotsha Ndhlovu drive and Short road.
“We are also offering 10 serviced medium density stands in Springvale, Ruwa.
“These stands are 1 200m² in size and located in a built up area,” said Kumalo.
“We also have upcoming projects in Harare comprising of Masotsha Ndlovu phase 5, 57 Kennedy drive Greendale and St Kilda Road in Mount Pleasant,” he said.
The building society also completed projects outside Harare. In Mkoba, Gweru they built 203 low- cost housing units and also built 160 houses in Mbizo, Kwekwe.
Between 2009 and 2014, the building society embarked on projects that saw the successful completion of 77 housing units in Mainway Meadows Waterfalls, 32 housing units in Washington Avenue phase 1 and 2 also in Waterfalls.
It also constructed 46 housing units in Montgomery and 10 housing units in Philadephia, Borrowdale suburb.
“We also built 108 housing units in Glaudina Harare… In our quest to deliver relevant solutions to meet our customers’ needs, we came up with a low cost savings account called Pfimbi/Isiphala.
“This is an interest earning savings account that allows you to have secure savings that can be redeemed after a period of 12 months. The account does not attract monthly charges,” said Kumalo.
