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Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), a state-owned lender that focuses
on providing mortgages, plans to set aside Rp 7.8 trillion (about
US$855 million) to provide home loans next year to meet rising demand
for housing.
"But it (the allocation) will still need approval from the
shareholders," BTN director Kodradi said Wednesday during a seminar on
the prospects for the real estate industry in 2007.
The figure represents a 26 percent increase from the Rp 5.7 trillion in
home loans that it is estimated will be extended this year, of which Rp
5.2 trillion had been disbursed as of the end of October.
As economic growth continues to improve next year, which in turn will
boost people's purchasing power, demand for housing loans will increase
subsequently, Kodradi predicted.
The economy is expected to grow by 6.2 percent in 2007, from an
estimated 5.8 percent this year.
Bank Indonesia forecasts that home loans will grow by 20 percent on
average next year, while the housing market will increase from Rp 17.1
trillion in 2005 to Rp 21.5 trillion in 2007.
"We are optimistic that the money we have allocated will be lent out
despite the challenges, mainly in infrastructure sector, such as
electricity supply," he said.
He pointed as an example to parts of Riau, where he said there were
over 6,000 newly built houses that lacked access to electricity, which
in turn discouraged potential customers from purchasing them.
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