Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Jamaicans are buying homes later and borrowing for longer. Lenders now offer mortgages of up to 40 years, with one major bank setting repayment by age 70, or 75 for the self-employed, and the National Housing Trust also allowing terms of up to 40 years, subject to affordability and age limits. As prices climb, a longer term is often the only way to make the monthly payment fit.
Retirement, however, does not stretch as easily. The full-rate old age pension is J$4,200 a week, and of more than 218,000 Jamaicans aged 65 and over, only about 42,000 remain economically active. Today about 73 per cent of elderly Jamaicans own the home they live in, but later purchases and longer terms could leave more of the next generation still paying in old age. So when the mortgage outlives the paycheque, what is left to hold the house up?
On a sunny hillside road, a modest veranda house, a few money bags and a thin piggy bank marked “J$4,200 PENSION” wobble on the point of a giant percent sign labelled “INTEREST”. Trudging toward the pile, a stooped grandfather with a walking stick drags an iron weight stamped “40-YEAR MORTGAGE” past a roadside sign that reads “PAY TILL 70”, with younger families following behind.
Read more: Jamaica’s Next Housing Problem: What Happens When the Mortgage Outlives the Paycheque?
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