– as persons reconsider their housing applications

DUPLEXES seem to be “catching the eyes” of Guyanese who are turning out in their hundreds to participate in the “Housing Solutions 2017 and Beyond” exposition, being held at Perseverance on the East Bank of Demerara.

The talk among persons at the exposition is focused on the duplex houses that are fairly new to the local market.

A duplex house is defined as a dwelling having apartments with separate entrances for two households. This includes two-storey houses having a complete apartment on each floor and also side-by-side apartments on a single lot that share a common wall.

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) has six duplexes and two single units of about 600 to 800 sq. ft. on display.

Persons have already started asking for more of the houses. When the Guyana Chronicle visited the Expo the duplexes were swarming with people who were enquiring about the dimensions of the houses and how they could acquire one.

An official of the CH&PA told this publication, a number of persons have shown an interest in the duplex houses.

“Some of the persons are interested in the single-lot houses, but not as much as the duplexes, which seem to be catching the eyes,” said the official who was in the CH&PA’s booth.

At the booth, persons lined up to enquire how they could change their applications for single lots to duplex houses instead, which range from $5 million to $7 million.

According to the official, persons who have an interest in the house and already have an application in place are required to go to the CH&PA or indicate their preference to a representative at the CH&PA booth so that it can be registered. Persons will then be contacted after a proper vetting is done.

So far, the houses have drawn the attention of mostly elderly and middle aged persons, therefore, the CH&PA is calling on more youths to come out and make their decisions at an early age.

Meanwhile, although persons were overwhelmed by the houses which had modern designs, they indicated that the prices should have been on display. The housing expo will continue until tomorrow.

Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Valerie Adams-Patterson, had said at the opening of the expo on Friday that she would aim to hold a housing expo in every new housing scheme.

Patterson who birthed the housing expo initiative, in a surprise announcement said that the housing ministry had lowered the land cost for the properties displayed at the Perseverance model village. The low-income earner would now pay $300,000 instead of the initial $500,000, while moderate and middle income earners pay $500,000 and $700,000 respectively.

The minister noted that potential home-owners can contact their contractor of choice to build the home they want from the model village. Single- unit homes were built by private contractors. They are allowed to price the properties.