Property Reference: I

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Interest rate

An interest rate is the ‘rental’ price of money. When a resource or asset is borrowed, the borrower pays the lender for the use of it. The interest rate is the price paid for the use of money for a period of time. One type of interest rate is the yield on a bond.

When money is loaned the lender defers consumption (or other use of the money) for a specific period of time. The lender does this in exchange for an expected increase in future income. The expected increase in real income (relative to the amount loaned) is the real interest rate. Note that the real interest rate is calculated by adjusting the actual rate charged (known as the money or nominal interest rate) to take inflation into account.

Islamic mortgages

Islamic Sharia law prohibits the payment or receipt of interest, which means that practising Muslims cannot use conventional mortgages. However, real estate is far too expensive for most people to buy outright using cash: Islamic mortgages solve this problem by having the property change hands twice. In one variation, the bank will buy the house outright and then act as a landlord. The homebuyer, in addition to paying rent, will pay a contribution towards the purchase of the property. When the last payment is made, the property changes hands.

An alternative scheme involves the bank reselling the property according to an installment plan, at a price higher than the original price.

In the United Kingdom, HSBC was the first major bank to offer Islamic mortgages.