KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 20): Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said today that the maximum housing loan tenure of 35 years is more than sufficient for borrowers to settle their housing loans by their retirement age. It cited a housing loan that is offered when the borrower is 25 years old, where a financing tenure of 35 years would extend to the retirement age of 60 years old. However, the total cost of financing will increase by 8.8% or RM53,258.43 to RM661,320.16, if the loan tenure is extended to 40 years. "In July this year, outstanding housing loans extended by financial institutions continue to grow at 10.1% year-on-year to total RM460.2 billion," it noted. It also pointed out that about 75% of borrowers or approximately 1.5 million borrowers with housing loans, are first-time house buyers.

Source: The Edge Markets September 20, 2016 06:38 UTC