P572,000 minimum price for BHC Flats

GOTHATAONE MOENG
Staff Writer | Friday May 20, 2011 00:00

 

The flats, according to advertisements in local print media fall into three categories: one bedroom Flat Type C. two bedrooms Flat Type C and three bedrooms Flat Type C, all of which sell at more than half a million. The advertisements also state that the flats will be 'sold strictly cash.'

At a guide price range of between P572,000 to P577,000, the one-bedroomed unit is the cheapest, while a two bedroomed unit will sell at a guide price ranging between P744,000 and P748,000.  The three bedroom units will sell at a guide price ranging between P818,000 to P822,000.

A home loans officer at Barclays Bank who did not want to be named told Mmegi in a telephone interview that to qualify for a loan of P577,000, the high end price for the one bedroom unit, one would need a net income of at least P11,911, after tax and other deductions. This would be for a loan with an 11 percent interest paid over 20 years at a monthly instalment of P5,955.73.  The officer said that in her experience, first time homeowners such as recent graduates usually prefer to buy flats. 'Older people tend to buy townhouses,' she said.

BHC, a parastatal established by a 1970 Act of Parliament, has often come under fire for what detractors regard as the high prices of its houses. Early this year, the Botswana Gazette quoted the Minister of Lands and Housing Nonofo Molefhi as admitting that BHC houses are too expensive.

BHC public relations officer Tefo Kebabope said it was still too early to assess the level of interest the public has shown in buying the houses.  He also directed Mmegi to send a questionnaire to which he had not responded by press time.  However, in a previous interview with Mmegi he credited the cost of development as a factor in the prices of the houses.

'The price of BHC houses is influenced by the cost that goes towards the production of houses,' he said.