Astana, 4 November, . The rush for the Umai women’s mortgage is explained by the fact that the money allocated was not enough for everyone and the system could not accept so many applications at once, industry and construction minister Yersaiyn Nagaspayev said at a Government briefing.
“We saw on both 31 August and 3 November that the amount allocated was insufficient. And there are many applicants,” the minister said. There are 870,000 people in Otbasy Bank’s official queue, he said, and Kazakhstan is not yet building enough housing to provide for everyone at once; new programmes and cheaper loans are needed, and funding will be gradually increased. The minister also acknowledged technical failures.
This year, Nagaspayev said, the country will build 18 million square metres of housing, more than ever before. The ministry will keep the price of state social housing, on average 335,000 tenge per square metre, under control, while the state cannot set prices for private developers.
What it means: The minister has confirmed what participants saw: the programme’s limit runs out in hours, and demand is an order of magnitude larger than supply.
Who benefits: Those who managed to apply, and the bank, which has a queue of customers; everyone else will have to wait for new tranches, whose timing and size have not been named.
Background: The 20-billion-tenge Umai women’s mortgage limit ran out by 16:00 on 3 November.
We have also reported on the first day of Umai applications.
