THE Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), through its investment manager, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), is to invest R10.5bn in the construction of housing for households that earn too much to get government subsidies and too little to qualify for bank loans.The investment will be a boon to the "gap market", which has been held back through lack of finance as the target market is considered too risky by commercial lenders.Households earning between R3,500 and R15,000 a month are being targeted. It is anticipated that many of the beneficiaries will be public servants.The fund says about 954,000 government employees receive a housing allowance from the state of R1,200 a month yet only 30% of these individuals own houses.The R10.5bn will comprise a debt facility to lender SA Home Loans at a "market-related" rate of return. The GEPF mandate requires an inflation plus 3% return on its infrastructure investments.SA Home Loans is a specialist mortgage lender that is 50% owne...
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