President of the Realtors Association of Jamaica, Newton Johnson, says the government needs to offer better tax incentives to local housing developers.

Mr. Johnson says the current policies and loans for developers are not as attractive as needed.

Mr. Johnson says loans for developers often takes a lengthy time to process.

He says this makes the National Housing Trust, NHT, inefficient.

Mr. Johnson believes the NHT should not operate as developers.

Newton Johnson, President of the Realtors Association of Jamaica, speaking last evening on Nationwide@5.

Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson says the recent announcement of an increase to the NHT’s loan limit is a good initiative.

However, he says more can be done.

Newton Johnson, President of the Realtors Association of Jamaica.

Last Thursday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced an additional one million dollars to the loan limit to stand at 7-point-5 million dollars, effective July 1.

However, he said special dispensation will be given to contributors purchasing homes valued at 12 million dollars or less.