By Anthony Morgan

The National Housing Trust (NHT) remains on track to start between 6,000 and 7,000 housing solutions this year, despite the economic slowdown caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Dwayne Berbick, Manager for Corporate and Public Affairs at the NHT

Manager for Corporate and Public Affairs at the NHT, Dwayne Berbick, told Kalilah Reynolds on Taking Stock that the demand for NHT houses continues to keep pace with the trend in the private real estate market.

“We weren’t seeing a significant fallout compared to 2019 to form a conclusion about the impact,” said Berbick in reference to latest data.

He reasoned that hitting the housing starts target this year would go a long way in achieving its four year target of 21,000 houses by 2021. 

On the completion side of things, he said the team has been working harder to recover lost ground as COVID-19 restrictions had limited the free movement of workers, and delayed construction. 

In terms of mortgages, Berbick said that a lot of the mortgages were in train before the onset of the pandemic and that the numbers are continuing to date without any significant falloff.

“Many people would have been planning for a house for years so a few months of COVID-19 would not have thrown off concrete plans,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, Berbick said that customers who were in arrears and took up support offers from the agency, are now in many instances making regular payments.  

From as early as March, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced a raft of measures for NHT customers to help cushion the economic effects of the pandemic. Among other things, existing mortgagors started benefiting from a 0.5% reduction in interest rates across the board as of April 1. Moratoriums in payments of up to six months were also offered to those who would have lost jobs or suffered pay cuts, and late fees were waived between April and September.

“We find that some are coming back on track,” said Berbick pointing out that the agency would have forgoed some $418 million from the moratorium feature alone. He said the NHT however intends to collect those monies “on the back end”. 

Berbick noted that 6,500 applicants or 5.0% of the total 117,000 mortgagors applied for moratoriums. Additionally most requested the maximum six months over the minimum of three. The lower interest rates in April might have resulted in lowering the number of mortgagors that required moratoriums, he reasoned.

“The moratorium was just an add on,” he said. 

Berbick said the NHT continues to offer support to those who are facing payment challenges for any reason. Some persons who would have been facing difficulties even before the pandemic, have been allowed to reschedule their mortgage. A longer tenure would for instance, translate into smaller monthly payments.

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Watch the full discussion here: