UPP's Policy Supports Home Ownership

According to the ECCB Monetary Survey, credit for the acquisition of property, which includes home construction and renovation as well as house and land purchases, has grown significantly in the four and a half years since the UPP assumed office.

Between 2004 and 2008, 2,800 new applications were made to the DCA for the construction of private homes.

This growth in the level of credit for the acquisition of property can be attributed to the UPP’s policy to support home ownership.

One such policy was the reduction of the Corporate Income Tax from 35 percent to 27.5 percent for banks that offered residential mortgage interest rates of 8 percent or less.

Another policy adopted by the Sunshine Government in an effort to facilitate home ownership was to reduce the stamp duty on residential mortgages from $6 per thousand to $4 per thousand.

With the reduction of the stamp duty from $6 per thousand to $4 per thousand, persons who received mortgages for the acquisition of residential property from 2005 onwards realised significant savings on the cost of acquiring mortgages.

Overall, the reduction of the stamp duty from $6 per thousand to $4 per thousand has generated total savings of $5.15 million for persons acquiring residential mortgages between 2005 and 2008.

This represents another glaring difference between the policies of this Administration and those of the ALP.

With respect to credit for consumer durables, this averaged $107.9 million for the period 1999 to 2003. Over the period 2004 to 2007, this annual average increased by 29 percent to $139.2 million.

Further, at the end of September 2008, credit for consumer durables amounted to $184.8 million, which represents an 84.0 percent increase over the $100.8 million recorded at the end of 2003.