The 3 categories of affordable housing under the policy will be placed under one roof

By AFIQ AZIZ / Pic By ISMAIL CHE RUS

The Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) plans to offer affordable houses in three-tier pricing thresholds under its new scheme, starting with homes priced below RM150,000.

Its Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin (picture) said the streamlining of all affordable housing agencies under the National Affordable Housing Council (NAHC), slated to be completed by next month, will help provide more choices for the public in purchasing their preferred home.

The move is also in line with the government’s effort to alleviate the overhang of 24,738 units in the first quarter this year valued at RM15.68 billion.

According to the National Property Information Centre data, 60% of the units were in the price range below RM500,000.

“They are three categories of affordable houses under the policy — those priced RM150,000 and below, between RM150,000 and RM300,000, and between RM300,000 and 500,000. We will place them under one roof,” Zuraida said at the Malaysia Property Expo (Mapex) 2018 in Kuala Lumpur last Friday.

She added that all the agencies such as Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd, Civil Servant Housing Development (PPAM), 1Malaysia People’s Housing Programme and UDA Holdings Bhd will be housed under the ministry and will offer the same schemes on pricing and design, but be managed by one administration. 

The ministry is redefining new build-up areas of future affordable houses from the minimum of 700 sq ft to 990 sq ft under the National Housing Policy 2.0, which is expected to be concluded by the end of this month.

Zuraida said the ministry is looking to engage with any party prepared to offer better quality homes to the bottom 40 (B40) group or low-income bracket.

Last week, the Valuation and Property Services Department, a unit of the Finance Ministry, highlighted that the overhang property issue and suggested for a special committee to monitor home prices, as well as advise on affordable pricing levels for new home launches.

“As long as we go on the same direction, we can discuss with them on how to achieve the objective,” Zuraida said.

She said all property stakeholders must be included in the discussions, engagements and sessions to enable the government to have a better understanding of the market mismatch between the demand and supply.

KPKT is expected to incorporate all property data from various parties to prevent similar occurrences, earlier news reports noted.

Zuraida said the data on the property market in the country would need to be reviewed as various parties are having different figures in their reports.

She expects the new consolidated system will provide the ministry and industry players more precise property data next year.

Zuraida said the government will need more time to study suggestions on managing the Bumiputera housing quota policy and mechanisms to better reflect the current market’s needs.

Organised by Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia, the three-day Mapex is expected to offer more than 6,000 affordable houses, worth around RM6.9 billion.