ABM refutes Rehda claims over end-financing challenges

PETALING JAYA (Oct 9): The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) has refuted allegations that homebuyers are finding it tougher to obtain housing loans and that loan approval times are increasing.

“Banks have always been supportive in providing home loans to all eligible borrowers. The overall housing loan approval rate remains high at 73% of the applications in 2Q17. Furthermore, 72% of the housing loan borrowers are first-time house owners under the affordable home category.

“For the first eight months of 2017, commercial banks approved over RM42.2 billion and disbursed approximately RM39.5 billion in loans for the purchase of residential properties. Financing therefore remains available for eligible borrowers,” said ABM in a statement today.

To recap, the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda) president Datuk Seri FD Iskandar Mansor has remarked that “not only is it harder to obtain the housing loan, the loan approval time also takes longer than before”.

“Currently, property buyers need around 60 to 90 days to get their loans approved, unlike within 30 days three years ago,” he said in a press conference on Sept 20, citing findings from the Rehda property industry survey 1H17.

To this, ABM said its member banks take an average of two to nine working days to process a housing loan application with complete documentation submitted by the applicant.

The same turnaround time also applies to appeal cases.

“An applicant who does not submit complete documentation will cause a delay in the approval process. For unsuccessful applicants, they are generally informed of the status of their application within one to two working days.

“Therefore, the 60 to 90 days taken for loan approval as stated by Rehda is not reflective of the speedy approval process of housing loans by banks,” it said.

ABM said its member banks have been and will continue to remain prudent and responsible in providing housing loans to eligible homebuyers.

“We wish to state that inaccurate statements can cause confusion amongst the public and create a biased perception on issues pertaining to housing loans in general.

“Extensive information including statistical data on housing loans can be obtained from the Housing Watch website at www.housingwatch.my,” added ABM.