KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced that the disbursements of housing loans surged 67.64 percent in the quarter ended December 2015 as compared with the corresponding quarter of the last year.
The overall disbursement increased to Rs5.7 billion for the quarter ended December 2015 as against Rs3.4 billion in December 2014. The latest disbursement is also higher 21.27 percent then Rs4.7 billion in the previous quarter ended September 2015, the SBP said in its review.
The central bank said that increasing in-house financing would be instrumental in increasing economic growth through positive changes in 40 industries allied to the housing sector.
The SBP said over the year, total disbursement made by banks and development finance institutions (DFIs) amounted to Rs21.2 billion.
In the segment of extending fresh loans, the Islamic banks played key roles followed by House Building Finance Corporation Limited (HBFCL). The Islamic banks extended new disbursements with Rs2.98 billion and HBFCL disbursed Rs1.37 billion. Meanwhile, the fresh disbursement of private banks and public sector banks was at Rs1.30 billion and Rs19 million, respectively.
The number of borrowers fell to 69,366 from 74,147 since December 2014, posting a decline of 6.45 percent over the year. The decline registered in all categories of borrowers except in Islamic banks, the SBP said.
Non-performing loans (NPLs) of the industry fell by 14.37 percent to Rs13.28 billion by December 2015 from Rs15.5 billion in the corresponding quarter of last year. NPLs as a percentage of gross outstanding demonstrate massive decline in HBFCL infected loans to 28.52 percent in December 2015 as against 48.45 percent in last year. The NPLs of Islamic banks also fell to 7.04 percent from 9.72 percent.
The gross outstanding finance as on December 31, 2015 of all banks and DFIs stood at Rs60.80 billion, compared to Rs58.03 billion in the previous quarter, showing an increase of Rs2.77 billion or 4.77 percent over the quarter. Over the year, housing finance portfolio showed growth of 13.33 percent.
Banking sector-wise gross outstanding on quarters ending December 2014 and December 2015 Islamic Banks reported Rs21.17 billion followed by private banks at Rs18.63 billion, public sector banks at Rs5.85 billion and others (Foreign banks and other DFIs excluding HBFCL) with Rs0.42 billion.
The outstanding loans of HBFCL were Rs14.74 billion; up by 16.34 percent over last year. “The data confirms that primary housing finance market in Pakistan is gradually growing,” the SBP said.
The share of private banks, Islamic Banks and HBFCL in the gross outstanding was 31 percent, 35 percent and 24 percent respectively as on December 31, 2015.
The SBP said that at present, twenty four banks, HBFCL and one microfinance bank were catering to the housing finance needs.
