Latest BLR rate of banks in Malaysia as of Mar-2009

Within a short period of time since the last revision in early February 2009, BNM has cut the OPR again by another 50 basis points to 2.00% and SRR to 1.0%, effective 1 March 2009.

Here are their latest BLR rate as of today (6 March 2009):

• Majority of the banks: 5.55%
• Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (M) Berhad: 5.25%
• J.P. Morgan Chase Bank Berhad: 5.25%
• The Royal Bank of Scotland Berhad: 5.25%
• Affin Bank: 5.50%
• Citibank Berhad: 5.60%

It seems that Citibank is having the highest BLR rate, which is at 0.05% above the majority.

The interest rate is really cheap now. Let's say you have a house loan with rate of BLR-2% and the BLR of your bank is 5.55%, this mean your house loan interest serving will be 3.55% only.

With the interest of 3.55%, assuming you are borrowing RM100k, here are some simple calculations (until the next BLR revision which will affect the interest rate):

• 10 years term, monthly repayment = RM991.20, total interest = RM18,994.31
• 20 years term, monthly repayment = RM582.53, total interest = RM39,807.75
• 30 years term, monthly repayment = RM451.84, total interest = RM62,662.54
  

Notice that with this low interest rate, the monthly repayment amount is likely to be lower than renting a house/apartment, especially in urban areas where the rental is higher.

This mean that if you are currently renting a house/apartment, you should consider buying one for yourself; and if you are a property investor, now is a good time to buy more properties to rent out, as the collected rental can probably cover your monthly repayment, and might even let you earn some surplus pocket money.

You can always click here for the latest BLR info of the banks.