Market awaits official prices from NHT on Ruthven Towers apartments
THE NATIONAL Housing Trust, NHT, state provider of affordable homes and mortgages, came under heavy criticism when it first proposed to sell the long-waited Ruthven Towers apartments for $16 million to $22 million, prices that were seen as more akin to what private real estate developers would charge.
The project was delayed to accommodate design changes two years ago, at which time the NHT, which is the agency that persons within lower income groupings bank on to acquire housing, said it would utilise the time to review the pricing of the apartments.
But now, with the apartments getting closer to completion, it’s being speculated online that the units may still be way more expensive than contributors to the NHT were hoping for.
The Financial Gleaner has come across various recordings floating around online around the apartment prices, including a video from a realtor that has since been taken down, voluntarily. The expectation is that it could cost as much as $27 million to acquire a onebedroom unit and $35 million for a two-bedroom unit in phase one of the Ruthven Towers development, which sits at the edge of the prime area of New Kingston.
However, checks also indicate that the speculated prices might more be the preliminary valuations of a third party and not direct information from the housing agency. Additionally, the speculated price levels would fall within the high-income band, a segment in which the NHT does not usually play – the trust is generally a provider of housing for middle and lower-income groups – and may not end up being the listing price of the units.
As to whether the NHT will treat the Ruthven apartments differently and sell the units to contributors at high-income prices, that is still in question.
Queries sent to the housing agency by the Financial Gleaner three weeks ago regarding the cost of the apartments and the status of the development were unanswered up to press time.
Although it is typical for developers to advertise home prices even before a development hits the market, and sometimes before construction begins, the housing agency also did not address the cost of the units in a two-minute video posted on its social media pages in August to market the residential complex. It is also unclear when the trust will conduct the openhouse viewings and begin taking applications for the apartments.
The NHT video details Ruthven Towers’ convenient location near the heart of New Kingston, the modern design and layout of the apartment complex, along with amenities at the complex but not the selling prices.
The agency’s plan to develop apartments at Ruthven Road dates back to 2010 when a preliminary concept budget was submitted with plans to develop the site at a cost of $1.9 billion. Up to 2017, the cost of the development, which consisted of 64 one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments under Phase 1, and 106 one-bedroom, 56 two-bedroom, and 12 three-bedroom units under Phase 2, stood at $5.2 billion.
The NHT later made design changes for the single building constructed in phase one to allow for eight floors instead of six.
Given the controversy around the prices, in 2019 the trust said it would review both the pricing of the units as well as the possibility of offering buyers 100 per cent financing on the apartments.
First-time homeowners applying to the NHT can access up to $6.5 million, and two persons can combine to borrow $13 million. Prospective homeowners will be able to access 100 per cent financing based on the new NHT Scheme Policy, subject to affordability.