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> Posted by Christy Stickney, Habitat for Humanity
Can we possibly address financial inclusion without discussing housing microfinance?
Financing for housing is in great demand, frequently cited as clients’ top choice after a business loan, and is the most commonly identified utilization of business financing outside of financing businesses. MFIs consistently report that housing portfolios perform as well as or better than other loan products, and believe that it balances portfolio risk and increases profitability (even though concrete data is often lacking).
Housing microfinance typically refers to non-mortgage housing loans utilized primarily for home improvements, repairs, and incremental building. Loan terms are generally under three years, and interest rates tend to be within the market range for microfinance loans. For the majority of the world’s poor, who build homes incrementally as financing becomes available, housing microfinance is uniquely tailored to match their building and financing patterns. Moreover, improved housing contributes to social benefits of improved health, education, economic stability and security. So why is it that housing microfinance isn’t growing faster, given the compelling advantages to both financial institutions and the clients they serve? Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Kelley Mesa
Check out the latest Center podcast on housing microfinance. The second in the series on business solutions to housing microfinance, in this podcast David Levai speaks with Willie Vos, managing director of SouthNet Cygnus. A branch of the South African property developer SouthNet, SouthNet Cygnus is a residential-property developer focusing on the lower-income groups of South Africa. They have taken a unique approach to solving the housing problems at the bottom of the pyramid, integrating differing components of the housing value chain by bringing together not only developers and financiers, but municipal stakeholders and services.
> Posted by David Levai
Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and this trend is not about to change. Among those urban dwellers in the developing world, more than a third lives in a slum or extremely precarious conditions. But numerous socially minded individuals are uncovering new ways to provide decent quality homes at affordable costs to low-income populations – helping small property owners become landlords, providing standardized housing units in recycled shipping containers, lending building material for self-improvements, etc.
In late 2008, fourteen participants invited by the Center for Financial Inclusion and ACCION Global Investments gathered in Washington, DC, with two goals in mind – to dissect the bottlenecks in the provision of affordable housing to the bottom of the pyramid in emerging markets and to identify innovative private-sector-driven solutions.
Representing India, South Africa, Kenya, Mexico, Bolivia, and the United States, these practitioners confronted their analyses of the hurdles in reaching scale and quality in housing finance for the poor as well as their vision going forward. The profiles of the attendees were varied Read the rest of this entry »
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