SFH (Housing Finance System)
The SFH (Sistema Financeiro da Habitação) is Brazil's main housing credit system, regulated by Law 4,380/1964. It sets a financing cap (currently R$1.5 million), limits the interest rate to 12% per year plus the TR or IPCA index (in practice…
Explanation
The SFH (Sistema Financeiro da Habitação) is Brazil’s main housing credit system, regulated by Law 4,380/1964. It sets a financing cap (currently R$1.5 million), limits the interest rate to 12% per year plus the TR or IPCA index (in practice market rates run below this cap), and allows the use of FGTS severance fund balances for both the down payment and amortization.
A property financed under the SFH must be residential, new or used, and the borrower cannot already have another SFH-financed property in the same municipality or within a 70 km radius. Above the SFH cap, financing shifts to the SFI (Real Estate Financing System), under free-market conditions.
