The National Affordable Housing Policy or Dasar Perumahan Mampu Milik (DRMM)

What is DRMM?

The National Affordable Housing Policy or Dasar Perumahan Mampu Milik (DRMM) was unveiled by Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin in early May.

It is a sub-policy of the National Housing Policy (DRN) 2018-2025 which was launched earlier.

The main purpose for introducing this sub-policy is to enable the housing affordability issue in the country to be tackled in a holistic way.

Why do we need DRMM?

DRMM outlines the main challenges faced by homebuyers (at macro and micro levels).

It provides detailed guidelines for housing developers who are interested to build affordable homes. The guidelines include the building standards, key specifications as well as the celling price for the affordable homes.

From the ministry’s perspective, affordable homes may not only refer to homes at low prices but the home must also provide a comfortable and safe living environment, in other words they must be quality homes for the lower income group.

Eligibility

You can apply to own a home in an affordable housing scheme,  if you are:

•             a Malaysian

•             aged 18 years old and above

•             at a qualified income level

•             a first-time homebuyer

•             registered with the state government’s housing agency

•             agreeable to the terms and conditions of homeownership set by the local government (such as obtaining permission from the local government to re-sell the home)

Who has the priority to purchase affordable homes?

•             disabled person

•             senior citizen who is 60 years old and above

•             single mother

•             civil servant

•             single women who are 45 years old and above

What makes a comfortable affordable home?

Facilities      

•             Must have community facilities that could encourage interaction among residents and to serve community needs, such as kindergarten, playground and multi-purpose hall as well as surau

•             All the fire fighting and safety equipment used must be certified by the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (Bomba)

Car park allocation

•             Landed homes: at least one parking bay

•             High-rise homes: at least one parking bay for units with built-ups of below 1,000 sq ft, two parking bays for units of over 1,000 sq ft

•             Additional one motorcycle parking bay for every two units

•             Additional 10% parking bays for visitors

•             Additional parking bays for disabled drivers

Cheap doesn’t mean high density 

•             In major cities in Selangor, Penang, Johor and Kuala Lumpur, affordable home development density is around 120 units per acre

•             For transport-oriented developments (within 400m radius from a main station), it is around 150 units per acre

Quality

The development must fulfill QLASSIC assessment

Pricing

The pricing for affordable homes will not exceed RM300,000 but the exact selling price will vary across different states based on the household average income and construction cost in each area.

This story first appeared in the EdgeProp.my pullout on May 24, 2019. You can access back issues here.