Mexico's Infonavit Sees Loans At Upper End Of 475K-525K Goal
 Laurence Iliff - Dow Jones
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June 11, 2010
Mexico City - Mexico's biggest home lender, federal housing fund Infonavit, is on track to reach the upper end of its guidance of between 475,000 and 525,000 mortgages this year, a top executive said Thursday.
"The goal is still 475,000-525,000 [loans], but the way things are going, we think it's going to be closer to 525,000," Infonavit Chief Executive Victor Borras said at a press conference.
Last year, a shortage of low-income housing caused the fund to miss its target of half a million mortgages by around 53,000 loans.
Infonavit's size - it accounts for more than half of all mortgages made in Mexico each year - gives it tremendous influence over the home construction industry.
Borras said nonperforming loans represent about 5% of Infonavit's total portfolio, and that the fund is trying to keep borrowers who have suffered financial hardship in their homes.
The fund is working to repair and resell about 40,000 abandoned homes that were purchased with Infonavit mortgages, Borras said.
The problem is especially acute in cities like Ciudad Juarez on the Mexico-Texas border that have suffered a sudden loss in jobs, forcing unemployed migrant workers to return to their hometowns in central and southern Mexico, he said.
Mexico's Infonavit To Finance 25,000 Homes With Solar Heaters
Laurence Iliff - Dow Jones
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June 11, 2010
Mexico City - Federal housing fund Infonavit on Thursday launched a two-year program to finance the purchase of 25,000 homes equipped with solar water heaters as Mexico's largest mortgage lender seeks to promote the construction of energy-efficient housing.
The program, which ends June 2012, was set up with the help of German development agency GTZ and a EUR2.5 million from Germany's environment ministry, Infonavit Housing Director Estela Garcia Heredia said at a press conference.
Infonavit's size - it accounts for more than half of the home loans made in Mexico each year - gives it tremendous influence over the home construction industry in terms of standards and innovation. This year alone, the fund has budgeted between 475,000 and 525,000 mortgages.
The solar water heater initiative is part of its so-called green mortgage program that promotes the purchase of homes equipped with energy- and water-saving features. Infonavit made 45,270 green mortgages during the January to April period.
Green mortgage borrowers who choose homes with solar water heaters will receive a bigger mortgage and a one-time subsidy this year equivalent to about EUR133, which eventually falls to EUR100 next year and EUR67 in 2012.
The purpose of the declining subsidy, Garcia said, "is so that people become familiar with" the program and its benefits, which include savings of up to 75% in the use of liquefied petroleum gas that is still the principal fuel in Mexican homes for heating water and cooking.
Garcia said the program also will reduce greenhouse gases and bolster the solar industry in Mexico.
Several companies showed their solar water heaters at stands set up near the site of the news conference, including hybrid systems that use a mix of solar energy and LP gas.
Garcia said Infonavit will extend the solar water heater program to used homes and apartment buildings next year.
Mexico's Energy Ministry is pushing renewable energy sources as part of its 15-year energy plan released this year.
The domestic solar industry mostly provides photovoltaic cells for energy in rural communities, the ministry said in its plan.
The goal of the ongoing "program for the promotion of solar water heaters 2007-2012" is to increase solar panels by 600,000 square meters to 1.8 million square meters of solar heater capacity by 2012, the ministry said. |
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