The real estate industry is set to get a boost as Jamaica National Building Society is set to announce a lowering mortgage rates, IC Insider.com has been reliably informed. The announcement could come as early as next week IC Insider.com has learnt.
Details were not available, but from indications it could result in the current flagship rate of 9.5 percent dropping to 8.5 percent. The move will be a welcomed for the society’s borrowers and will act as a stimulus to the housing market that has seen increased building cost as a result of the falling value of the Jamaican dollar pushing the cost of housing upwards. The decline will come against the background of lowering of repo rates by the country’s central bank and a continuous lowering of Treasury bill rates since early 2014.
The move by Jamaica National is expected to see other long term lenders following the JN lead and should result in an all round fall in borrowing cost for mortgages.
JN General doubles 2014 profit
JN General Insurance more than doubled profit for the year to December 2014 with after tax profit hitting $566 million, a 95 percent increase over the $291 million reported for 2013.
The impressive increase came from a mere 8.6 percent increase in premium income amounting to $3.59 billion which helped in leading to an underwriting profit of $160 million compared to a loss of $149 million in 2013. Investment income contributed $471 million to the bottom-line and foreign exchange gains $83 million. The company donated $10.4 million to the JNBS Foundation during the year up from $9.7 million in 2013.
The company which is a subsidiary of Jamaica National Building Society boast assets of $8.5 billion and equity of $3.97 billion at the end of 2014.
