The Tanzania - Housing Finance Project

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The development objective of the Housing Finance Project for Tanzania is to develop the housing mortgage finance market through the provision of medium and long-term liquidity to mortgage lenders. There are three components to the project. The first component of the project is development of the mortgage market. This is the main component of the project. This component is centered on the creation and development of the Tanzanian Mortgage Refinance Company (TMRC) to provide medium and long-term liquidity to mortgage lenders. The credit will support the initial, start-up phase of the TMRC's operations as a second-tier, wholesale, and market-based liquidity facility focused on refinancing longer-term residential mortgage loans originated by mortgage lenders. TMRC is expected to begin issuing bonds in the capital market to help fund its operations on a market sustainable basis. The second component of the project is development of housing microfinance. An initial study will assess the potential to develop this product and examine how a Housing Microfinance Fund (HMFF) could help in providing longer term funds to allow loans for up to five years or longer to be granted. Regulatory reform and capacity building around this product will also be necessary to foster a safe lending environment. The setting up and implementation of HMFF will happen starting in phase two of the project. The third component of the project is expansion of affordable housing supply. Work will be undertaken to support the development of a private developer industry. A range of measures will be undertaken, which includes: conducting a baseline housing market study, improving the capacity of the National Housing Corporation (NHC), improving capacity of banks to provide real estate developer finance, and promoting the use of lower cost construction technologies.