Government looking to establish single authority for affordable housing

KUALA LUMPUR (July 25): The government is looking to establish a single authority to regulate the housing industry especially for affordable housing in the country.

Second finance minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said having one authority was important to overcome the mismatch between demand and supply in the local affordable housing sector, Bernama reported today.

"The definition of affordable house prices is different between a property developer and another.

"This is something the government is looking into in the near term. Some of the houses being built are not in the right locations where people need it the most and you have an issue of mismatch," Bernama reported Johari as saying at Invest Malaysia 2017 here today.

Earlier this year, Johari also urged young Malaysians to rent their homes longer to avoid getting into huge long-term property debt.

“It is our culture — we don’t believe in renting. We have to change our mindset. When you go to the UK — they just rent until they have the money to make a long term commitment.”