Indonesia's Mandiri enjoys loan growth with small home financing

Bank Mandiri's mortgage loans grew by 29 to 30 percent in the first half as it expanded into financing smaller houses.

This was relayed by Mansyur Nasution, Bank Mandiri’s executive vice president for consumer finance, who added that exact figures cannot be disclosed yet.

The shift occurred after the demand for premium-size houses declined.

“We are improving the distribution of the segment below the 70-square-meter type of houses," said Mansyur.

He said the lender was moving into smaller houses in anticipation of the impact of a regulation introduced by Bank Indonesia, the central bank, on June 15.

The new rule requires a maximum mortgage of 70 percent of the value of a property for houses above 70 square meters, known as type 70.

Mansyur said Bank Mandiri was forecasting slowing demand for larger houses going forward, prompting the lender to shift its focus to less-expensive house.

He added that at the moment around 55 percent of its mortgage loans went toward financing premium-sized houses.

In the same period last year, Mandiri’s mortgage loans amounted to Rp 19.5 trillion or $2.1 billion.

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