Share
Ministry targets 38,000 people's housing project units under 10th plan
ALOR SETAR (Jan 25): The Housing and Local Government Ministry is to build 38,000 units of houses under the People's Housing Project under the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015), Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said today.
He said many of the houses are under construction and they are being built in Sabah, Selangor, Pahang and Kelantan.
"We also had an application from Kedah but the request could not be met because no land is available. If the state government provides the land, we will build the houses there," he told reporters after the presentation of 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) vouchers, here.
Chor said the completed houses would be handed over to the local authorities or the state government to manage the sale and rental.
He said the value of each house is between RM100,000 and RM130,000.
"The sale price is only RM35,000 and the rental RM124 a month," he said. ¡ª Bernama
Buyers of abandoned housing projects lodge report with MACC
PUTRAJAYA (Jan 25): Fifty of the more than 1,200 buyers of abandoned housing projects in Pulau Indah, Port Klang, Selangor today filed a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) here for alleged corruption.
However, only two were allowed to enter the office to lodge reports on behalf of the other victims.
Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) activist Abdul Karim Said, 57, said they came to the MACC office today to help the buyers make the report.
"We hope the MACC can investigate this matter so that those involved will get justice," he said.
A buyer, Salmah Bakri, 38, said the MACC and Selangor government must take action as the projects were left abandoned for almost 10 years.
She added that her husband had paid installments from 2002 until 2005, but the project had yet to take off. ¡ª Bernama
Perak MB wants DCA to review ban on tall buildings in Ipoh
IPOH (Jan 25): The Perak state government has urged the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) to review its ban on construction of tall buildings in Ipoh as it would affect development, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.
He said the regulation enforced since the 1950s obstructed the state government's efforts to develop Ipoh into a modern city.
"The state government urges the DCA to revise this ban so that we can turn Ipoh into a city with recognisable landmarks, including tall buildings. We understand tall buildings cannot be build near the airport due to safety reasons.
"But that ruling should not apply to surrounding areas of Ipoh," he told reporters after chairing a state exco meeting here today.
Zambry hopes DCA would discuss the matter with the state government.
He said the restriction, which was set to prevent air traffic interference at the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport (LTSAS), should only be imposed in areas with air traffic, and not for the whole city.
"This revision can be done, especially since there is new technology like navigation system for air traffic...to conclude that no high-rise buildings can be built in the city is difficult to accept, so we want the department to give their views on this," he said. ¡ª Bernama
Terengganu uses Google services to prevent illegal occupation of land
KUALA TERENGGANU (Jan 25): The Terengganu government is now using Google services to detect illegal occupation of government-owned land in the state.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said said this was the state government's latest approach to overcome the problem.
"The Land and Mineral Office (PTG) has always conducted land monitoring activities through Google," he told reporters after chairing the state executive council weekly meeting here today.
Starting this year, Ahmad said the state government would also take stern action against those involved in illegal occupation of land, including civil servants.
"The state secretary has also issued a circular to remind the civil servants not to get involved in such activities," he said.
Meanwhile, the menteri besar said the state government had processed and solved 9,916 or 99.82 per cent of the applications for illegally occupied land in Terengganu over the past three years.
He said it was hoped that the rest of the applications would be solved by next month.
In another development, Ahmad said the state government would also reacquire the 27-hectare land in Kampung Guntong and Kampung Tasik Setiu to build flood deviation channels and other drainage and irrigation facilities.
He said the project would involve a cost of RM1.8 million and 120 plots of land.
"The project will be able to prevent floods which were rampant in the two villages," he added. ¡ª Bernama
Pending home sales retreat from 1 year high
WASHINGTON, DC (Jan 25): Pending sales of existing US homes fell more than expected in December, industry data showed on Wednesday, pointing to a moderation in home sales after recent hefty gains.
The National Association of Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in December, dropped 3.5% to 96.6 after surging to a 1? year high the prior month.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected pending sales to fall 1.0%. Pending sales lead existing home sales by a month or two. In the 12 months to December, pending contracts were up 5.6%.
A recovery is starting to emerge in the housing market and home resales have risen for three straight months. ¡ª Reuters
Irishman makes "billion-euro home" of shredded notes
DUBLIN (Jan 25): An unemployed Irish artist has built a home from the shredded remains of €1.4 billion (RM5.59 billion), a monument to the "madness" he says has been wrought on Ireland by the single currency, from a spectacular construction boom to a wrenching bust.
Frank Buckley built the apartment in the lobby of a Dublin office building that has lain vacant since its completion four years ago at the peak of an ill-fated construction boom, using bricks of shredded euro notes he borrowed from Ireland's national mint.
"It's a reflection of the whole madness that gripped us," Buckley said of what he calls his "billion-euro home".
"People were pouring billions into buildings now worth nothing," he said. "I wanted to create something from nothing."
A wave of cheap credit flowed into Ireland in the early 2000s after Ireland joined the currency zone fuelling a huge property bubble that transformed the country.
The bubble's collapse since 2007 plunged Ireland into the deepest recession in the industrialised world, forcing the former "Celtic Tiger" to accept a humiliating bailout from the EU and the IMF.
Buckley was given a 100% mortgage at the peak of the boom to buy a 365,000 euro home on the far reaches of Dublin's commuter belt, despite the fact he had no steady income.
He has separated from his wife who lives in the home, which has since lost at least one-third of its value.
Living in his "billion euro home" since the start of December, Buckley is working on adding a kitchen to the living room and hall.
The walls and floor are covered in euro shreddings and the house is so warm Buckley sleeps without a blanket.
Pictures made from notes and coins decorate the walls, including one of a house, made from Irish 5 pence pieces.
"There are houses in Ireland worth less than that," Buckley quips.
Buckley said he wants Europe's politicians to solve the eurozone debt crisis without destroying its currency. But if the currency ultimately fails, he will happily use the euro zone's defunct notes as fodder for future projects.
"Whatever you say about the euro, it's a great insulator." ¡ª Reuters
Fall in Irish house prices accelerated in 2011
DUBLIN (Jan 25): The decline in Irish residential property prices accelerated last year to 16.7% from 10.5% in 2010, data on Tuesday showed, as a weak domestic economy and low mortgage lending continued to hit demand.
Irish property prices rocketed before the property bubble burst in 2008, leaving banks with huge losses and homeowners with hefty mortgage repayments.
Average residential prices are now 47% below their 2007 highs, while prices in Dublin are 55% off their peak.
Learn how to get the most out of your ISA & avoid common mistakes Tesco: Is This a Huge Buying Opportunity?
"With low transactions, constrained mortgage lending and an uncertain economic environment, house prices are likely to continue falling in 2012," said Conall Mac Coille, chief economist at Davy Stockbrokers in Dublin.
In stress tests on the Irish banking sector early last year, the central bank assumed a 55% peak-to-trough fall in residential property prices between 2007 and 2013 and a 62% drop in its adverse scenario.
Mac Coille said prices may well reach that 55% level before bouncing back, but noted that foreclosures appear much lower than the stress tests assumed, giving banks some leeway.
The Central Statistics Office, whose numbers are based on mortgage data from Ireland's largest banks, said average residential prices fell 1.7% in December, faster than the 1.5% decline the previous month.
The index last posted a monthly increase in September 2007. ¡ª Reuters
US housing more affordable than other English countries
WASHINGTON, DC (Jan 25): Would-be American home-buyers can take heart: US housing is more affordable than in other English-speaking countries, according to a study of metropolitan areas around the world.
The median home price in the United States as a whole was three times pre-tax household income in the third quarter of 2011, on the cusp of what Demographia, a public policy firm which conducted the survey, deems "affordable".
In major US metropolitan areas, the ratio was 3.1, down from 4.6 in 2007, before the worst of the US housing market slump that dragged the economy into recession, and 3.3 in 2010.
Detroit, at 1.4 times, was the most affordable big city in any of the 325 areas surveyed in six countries and in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.
In contrast, the index was 12.6 in Hong Kong, by far the priciest market. And Canada, despite being larger in size than the United States with just one ninth of the population, continues to grow less affordable.
A ratio of 3 or less is considered "affordable," according to Demographia which surveyed 325 metropolitan areas in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the U.K., the United States, Canada and Hong Kong.
"The bubble is over - prices have continued to decline. We have housing prices back to where they're supposed to be," said Wendell Cox, principal of Demographia which is based in Belleville, Illinois.
Not everywhere in the United States is housing looking like a good deal: the most unaffordable US markets were San Jose (6.9), San Francisco (6.7), San Diego (6.1), New York (6.1), Los Angeles (5.7) and Boston (5.3), according to the survey.
Cox blamed stringent land use regulations for choking supply in many of the "unaffordable" US markets, driving up prices.
Signs have appeared in recent months that the U.S housing slump may have touched bottom and economists mostly expect prices to remain flat in 2012 before small gains next year.
After Hong Kong, Autralia's major cities were the most expensive at 6.7 times pre-tax median household income, followed by New Zealand at 6.4 and Britain at 5.0. ¡ª Reuters
HSBC says ¡ê15b on offer for homeowners
LONDON (Jan 25): HSBC said it will make ¡ê15 billion (RM72.04 billion) available for UK homeowners to borrow this year, potentially providing 150,000 mortgages and likely to increase its share of business in a shrinking market.
HSBC said its planned lending includes ¡ê3 billion for first-time buyers, potentially for about 27,000 borrowers.
With the UK mortgage market expected to shrink this year, HSBC said its lending could give it a market share of more than 11% of new business. The bank's share of the UK mortgage market is about 5%, but it said it provided about 11% of new mortgage lending in the first half of last year. ¡ª Reuter
ALOR SETAR (Jan 25): The Housing and Local Government Ministry is to build 38,000 units of houses under the People's Housing Project under the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015), Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said on Wednesday.
He said many of the houses are under construction and they are being built in Sabah, Selangor, Pahang and Kelantan.
"We also had an application from Kedah but the request could not be met because no land is available. If the state government provides the land, we will build the houses there," he told reporters after the presentation of 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) vouchers, here.
Chor said the completed houses would be handed over to the local authorities or the state government to manage the sale and rental.
He said the value of each house is between RM100,000 and RM130,000.
"The sale price is only RM35,000 and the rental RM124 a month," he said. — Bernama
SHARE
senaiairportcity-overallview.jpg?wyCmw4_M_WK1b.OkWEhqLZeyUgCmSweP)
