First time home buyer subsidy: FLISP

Article summary

• FLISP is a subsidy aimed at home buyers whose income falls between R3 501 and
  R22 000.
• You can apply for FLISP with your financial institution or with the assistance of a home loan comparison service such as ooba Home Loans.
• The subsidy can be used as a deposit or paid into your home loan, reducing your monthly repayments and enabing you to pay off your home loan over a shorter term.

For first-time home buyers, FLISP is exactly what you need to make the dream of home ownership a reality.

It’s a government subsidy that can be used as a deposit or a payment into your home loan, reducing your monthly repayments and enabling you to pay off your home loan in a shorter period of time.

How do I qualify for a first time home buyer subsidy?

You need to meet the following criteria:

• Your income must range from R3 501 to R22 000 per month.
• You must be a South African citizen with permanent residency in South Africa.
• You must not have received a government housing subsidy before.
• You must be married or cohabiting OR single with financial dependents.
• You must be over 18 years old.
• You must not have owned a fixed residential property before.

How much is the FLISP subsidy?

The subsidy ranges from R30 001 to R130 000, depending on your income. The lower your income, the higher the subsidy.

For more detail, see the chart below:

Note You used to have to apply for a home loan and have it approved before you could apply for FLISP, but as of April 2022, this is no longer necessary. You can now use other sources of finance to apply, including:

• the beneficiary’s pension/provident fund loan
• a co-operative or community-based savings scheme, i.e. stokvel
• the Government Employees Housing Scheme
• any other Employer-Assisted Housing Scheme
• an unsecured loan
• an Instalment Sale Agreement or Rent-to-own Agreement

Applying for a first-time home buyer subsidy

You can apply with the assistance of your financial institution, or a home loan comparison service such as ooba Home Loans.

If you choose to apply with the help of ooba Home Loans, the process will be as follows:

How long will the application process take?

Usually around 7 days.

If you are approved, the subsidy will be paid to you by the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC), which distributes funds according to a budget granted them by the government.

It’s worth applying for FLISP, as the subsidy will improve your chances of obtaining a home loan, and make the home purchase more affordable, allowing you to set aside funds for other expenses.