The state-owned Government Savings Bank (GSB) and GH Bank will roll out a new batch of pre- and post-financing worth 9 billion baht for 4,000 low-cost homes on state land under the Pracha Rat (People's State) initiative.
Of the total, 5 billion baht is for mortgages and 4 billion is for pre-financing, said Deputy Finance Minister Wisudhi Srisuphan.
Each bank will sponsor half, he said.
Wisudhi: Loans split evenly between banks
The loans will be extended for projects to be developed on the Treasury Department's six plots in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Phetchaburi.
The banks will charge the same interest rates as for the first lot of 70 billion baht in loans for the low-cost housing scheme involving private developers.
Under pre-financing, both banks will charge 4% interest for two years.
For post-financing, the GSB and GH Bank will charge no interest for the first year, 2% for the second and third years, 5% from the fourth to the sixth year and floating rates for the remaining period.
Chakkrit Parapuntakul, director-general of the Treasury Department, said the department had set a 30-day period for private firms interested in building housing projects to pick up terms of reference for the six plots and another 30 days to submit them.
The low-cost accommodation at the two condo projects to be developed on plots in Bangkok -- one behind the former site of the Royal Mint on Pradiphat Road and one on Soi Wat Phai Ton in Phaya Thai district -- will be made available only to state officials with salaries below 20,000 baht for a five-year rental term. Rental rates will be set at 4,000 baht a month.
The other four projects, all in provincial areas, will be open to both state officials and the general public for a 30-year lease term with a condition that units cannot be transferred in the first five years. The maximum lease price is set at 1 million baht per unit.
Mr Chakkrit said the department had prepared another four plots with a combined area of 70 rai in Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Chachoengsao for low-cost homes in the next phase.
Meanwhile, GSB president Chartchai Payuhanaveechai said the bank aimed for loan growth of 6-8% this year, mainly on lending associated with the small and medium-sized enterprise and retail segments, which are projected to grow by 11% and 6-7% respectively.
Loans related to public investment projects are expected to expand by 4-5% this year, he said.
Net profit is expected to be 17.8 billion baht, said Mr Chartchai, noting that bank deposits are expected to grow by 4-6%.
GSB's first-quarter net profit amounted to 1.66 billion baht, mainly derived from net interest income of 14 billion baht.
Net fee income was recorded at 1.13 billion baht generated from the bank's card business and electronic services.
"The first three months are a low-season period and our loans normally expand considerably in the third and fourth quarters," said Mr Chartchai, adding that loans in the first quarter declined by 0.1% over the same period last year.
As of March 31, the bank's outstanding loans totalled 1.9 trillion baht, a 0.9% decline from 1.92 trillion baht at the end of last year.
GSB's loans expanded by 6.7% in 2015, while its non-performing loans were registered at 1.61% of its total loans.
It is expected that GSB's 30-billion-baht loans under the Pracha Rat housing scheme will be extended within the next two months, said Mr Chartchai.
There were 31,352 applicants for the bank's Pracha Rat mortgage scheme with a loan amount of 34.5 billion baht as of March 31.
Loan approvals were registered at 1,296 with a value of 1.5 billion baht.