ComBank partners Capital Trust Properties to make home-owning dreams reality

Commercial Bank Deputy General Manager – Retail Banking and Marketing Hasrath Munasinghe (fourth from left) and Capital Trust Residencies Managing Director Minoli Wickramasinghe at the signing of the MoU in the presence of representatives of two companies

A collaboration between the Commercial Bank of Ceylon and Capital Trust Properties, the leading real estate brokering company in Sri Lanka, has opened up exciting new possibilities for Sri Lankans seeking to buy homes.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two corporate giants paves the way for Capital Trust to direct prospective customers to Commercial Bank for financing support, and for the Bank to offer bespoke home loans that will facilitate the purchase of homes at multiple property developments, with an emphasis on apartments.

A subsidiary of Capital Trust Holdings, Capital Trust Properties offers a wide spectrum of residences at its own condominium projects like Capital Trust Thimbirigasyaya and Vajira Road, as well as at other high-end condominium developments such as Trizen, Havelock City, Shangri La, Capitol Twinpeaks, Prime Yolo, and Iconic Galaxy, among others.

Commercial Bank Deputy General Manager – Retail Banking and Marketing Hasrath Munasinghe said: 

“We are pleased to offer more opportunities for individuals seeking their dream homes through this partnership. With a diverse range of home loan products at competitive rates, Commercial Bank provides customers with the flexibility to choose what suits them best. We are confident that the synergy between our two companies will help turn the home ownership aspirations of many into a reality.”

Notably, Commercial Bank became the first private sector bank in Sri Lanka to achieve market leadership in the Home Loans sector earlier this year, with a home loans portfolio of Rs 72.965 billion as at 31st March 2024.

Commercial Bank Home Loans are available for purchase of bare land, a house, apartment, construction of a house, completion of a partially-built house, renovation of or an extension to an existing house, and for settlement of an existing home related loan. Besides its General Home Loans, the Bank has a separate loan scheme for first time home buyers and builders as well as Green Home Loans and Foreign Currency Home Loans.

A first in Sri Lanka, Commercial Bank’s ‘First Time Home Buyers & Builders’ scheme offers a free or discounted Decreasing Term Assurance Policy (DTAP) covering the loan, thereby eliminating or reducing the burden of the cost of the loan protection insurance at a time of escalated construction cost. Commercial Bank’s Green Home Loan is another first-of-its-kind product in the market, which enables financing of both Green Building Council certified projects as well as other green initiatives including residential solar installation at the best interest rates coupled with other concessions. 

Commercial Bank also pioneered ‘Flexible Home Loans’ options, which include residual home loans and step-up home loans. These options have been designed for applicants whose repayment capacity is inadequate to service the loans, when the monthly instalment is calculated under traditional methods, such as EMI (Equated Method Instalment) and reducing balance methods.

Under residual home loans, customers can repay part of the capital of the loan and postpone the repayment of the balance. As in the case of step-up loans, tailor-made, graduated repayment plans are offered, after evaluating the applicant’s present and projected income.

Additionally, the Bank offers a five-year grace period for professionals and high net worth individuals, where they can pay only the interest during the grace period and thereafter commence the repayment of capital together with interest, under any available method of repayment such as equated monthly instalment, reducing balance method or step-up home loans, whichever best suits each borrower.