Rehda: Govt should expand affordable housing measures to private sector developers

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 21): The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) wants the government to involve the private sector more when it comes to boosting the affordable housing supply and home ownership in the country.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his Budget 2017 speech today introduced several incentives and measures related to the property sector, including building more affordable homes.

Under the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS), the government will provide government vacant lands at strategic locations to government-linked companies (GLC) and Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia (PR1MA) to build more than 30,000 houses with the selling price ranging between RM150,000 and RM300,000, which is much lower than the market price of RM250,000 to RM400,000.

Rehda president Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor hopes the government would consider expanding these measures to private sector developers who can undertake the project at the same cost.

“There are areas where PR1MA and some GLCs may not want to develop, but we have local expertise in these areas, so we urge the government to open up the measure to private developers as we can do it for the same price as well,” he told reporters at a press conference following the Budget 2017 speech.

A new special “step-up” end-financing scheme for PR1MA was also announced to assist homebuyers in securing housing loans up to 90% to 100% with the loan rejection rate to be reduced drastically.

“We wish to thank the government for introducing this scheme, which will provide easier access to financing for purchasers and assist them in owning a home, but we also urge the government to include private developers in the end-financing scheme in order to achieve the government’s objective in encouraging home ownership,” said Fateh Iskandar.

Meanwhile, on initiatives for more affordable homes for public servants, Rehda lauded the government’s efforts as this will open up more opportunities for public servants to purchase their homes, particularly in urban areas.

“The implementation of MyBeautiful New Home for the B40 throughout the country will further encourage home ownership,” he said.

On the stamp duty exemption on instruments of transfer and housing loan instruments for first-time homebuyers for houses valued up to RM300,000 purchased between Jan 1, 2017 and Dec 31, 2018, Fateh Iskandar said the move will spur the growth of the affordable housing segment.

“Nonetheless, taking into account house prices which are higher in major cities, we hope the government would also expand the stamp duty waiver to properties at a higher threshold of RM500,000.”

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