$112.6B to allocate 25k house lots, develop new & existing housing areas this year

The Ministry of Housing Water has seen a massive increase in the 2025 Budget with a whopping $112.6 billion going towards the continued development of new and existing housing areas and the allocation of an additional 25,000 house lots this year.

According to Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh during his budget presentation on Friday, these efforts will surpass the People’s Progressive Party/Civic government’s 2020 Manifesto promise of 50,000 house lot distribution in five years.

Moreover, the Housing Ministry will also continue works in 2025 to distribute another 10,000 land titles and transports as well as construct 1,000 more homes.

Last year, the ministry received a sum of $78.5 billion and saw the ministry allocating some 10,791 house lots in 2024, bringing the total number of house lots distributed thus far to over 40,000.

Since taking office in 2020, the Dr Irfaan Ali-led Administration has been embarking on an aggressive housing agenda geared towards home ownership for Guyanese.

As a result, 85 new and existing housing areas were developed inclusive of Amelia’s Ward, Balthyock, Belle West, Charity, Cummings Lodge, De Endragt, La Bonne Intention, Lethem, Leonora, No. 75 & 79 Villages, Sheildstown, Success, Williamsburg and York.

In addition, over 2,000 homes were constructed of which 1,193 were low-income, 493 were moderate income and 330 were young professionals. Government also developed a number of special targeted programmes to assist with housing construction, material costs and financing such as the Lethem Housing Support Initiative launched in September 2022, the Steel and Cement Subsidy programme launched in October 2022, and the Laing Avenue Housing Grant launched in November 2023.

Value-added tax (VAT) was also removed on locally produced building and construction materials inclusive of cement, sheetrock and concrete boards while the single-window approval system was launched in June 2024, allowing persons to submit planning applications through an online platform and track their application progress until approval is granted.

Additionally, a number of initiatives have been implemented to lower the cost of financing for home ownership including increasing the low-income mortgage ceiling at commercial banks from $8 million to $20 million; increasing the ceiling on housing loans at the New Building Society from $12 million to $20 million; and restoring the ceiling on Mortgage Interest Relief for housing loans to $30 million from $15 million.

According to the Finance Minister, “These and other initiatives [have] helped to bring home ownership within the reach of every single Guyanese family.”