Inspen: One agency can monitor affordable housing supply and demand

KUALA LUMPUR (March 9): The formation of just a single agency tasked with the distribution of affordable houses can facilitate the monitoring of their supply and demand, said National Institute of Valuation (Inspen) Director Mohd Khairudin Abd Halim.

"We need a good model to monitor, record and enable related parties to make an evaluation.

“With a single body or agency, it will facilitate coordination and will be for common good," he told the media at the Ninth International Real Estate Research Symposium 2018 (IRERS 2018) here, Bernama reported today.

Mohd Khairudin therefore agrees with Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) proposal for the setting up of a single body to coordinate more than 20 agencies overseeing the supply and distribution of affordable housing.

It was reported last month that the central bank proposed a five-pronged strategy to grapple with the problem of home affordability, which “include centralising the affordable housing initiative; and establishing an integrated and centralised housing and applicant registration database to facilitate planning and allocation of affordable housing”.

BNM also said that the maximum affordable house price in the country is RM282,000 based on the housing cost burden approach.

"However, actual median house price was RM313,000 (in 2016), beyond the means of many households, where the median national household income was only RM5,228," it said.

The central bank also added that undersupply of affordable houses remained a problem.