What is the FLISP subsidy? Here’s everything you need to know

Article summary

• FLISP is a government subsidy aimed at first-time home buyers.
• Your income must range from R3 501 to R22 000 to qualify.
• The subsidy ranges from R30 001 to R130 000 depending on your income, and can be used as a deposit or an extra payment on your home loan.

If you’re a first time home buyer in a low-income bracket, the FLISP subsidy may be exactly what you need.

It’s a subsidy for your home loan, ranging from R30 001 to R130 000 depending on your income (the lower your income, the higher the subsidy).

This subsidy can be used as a deposit on your home loan, increasing your chances of home loan approval and securing you lower interest rates. 

It can also be paid directly into your home loan, reducing your home loan term and monthly repayments. Use our Extra Payment Calculator to determine how a once-off payment will affect your home loan.

What is the FLISP subsidy? Quick facts about FLISP

• It stands for Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme.
• It’s paid out by the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC).
• Your income must range from  R3501 to R22 000 per month to qualify.
• You must be a first-time homebuyer who’s never benefitted from a government scheme before.
• You no longer need home loan approval to apply for FLISP.
• You can apply through your financial institution, or a home loan comparison service such as ooba Home Loans.
• The application process usually takes around 7 days.

Other qualification criteria:

Aside from those mentioned above, you need to meet the following criteria:

• You must be a South African citizen with permanent residency in South Africa.
• You must be married or cohabiting OR single with financial dependents.
• You must be over 18 years old.

What else do you need to know about FLISP?

You used to have to obtain home loan approval before applying for FLISP. Now you can use other sources of finance to back up your application, such as:

• 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

It may also be possible to apply for FLISP retroactively, meaning that if you already purchased a house and never applied for FLISP despite meeting the qualification criteria, you can do so now. (Note this option may only become available once new guidelines are in place).

The application process

If you choose to apply with ooba Home Loans, you can see the process laid out below.

The new FLISP policy allows for external agents to monitor the application process more closely. This leads to a faster turnaround time and makes the services of a home loan comparison service such as ooba Home Loans invaluable in obtaining the home loan subsidy.