REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Islamic housing financing is still attractive despite the fixed amount of installments along the financing tenor. Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM) for example, records the value of more than 30 billion IDR from new customers alone in the first month of 2012. The value contributes to 350 billion IDR of housing financing recorded in 2010-2011.   

The Business Director of BSM, Hanawijaya, is optimistic that the product of Islamic housing financing is always on high demand. He says, there are two types of customers of housing financing, those who prefer fixed margin and the others who prefer floating margin. The latter type usually is more flexible and ready to face uncertainty, including fluctuating rates. While the former type usually prefer certainty as offered by Islamic banking.        

“The market of fixed margin is rising,” he said recently. 

He explained, the number of customers in Islamic housing financing is increasing despite the fact that the margin is quite higher than interest rates in commercial banks. For murabahah contract, for example, BSM set the margin up to 12 percent. 

Islamic housing financing consumers mostly come from middle class in society. To fulfill such demands, BSM works with around 40 developers that also provide affordable housing. Yet, BSM still opens its market for the upper class customers.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika