The Government is considering housing developers’ request to reintroduce DIBS (Developers Interest-Bearing Scheme) for first-time house buyers. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar says the Government is discussing whether to relax current buying and lending guidelines for first-time house buyers. “It is still at the ... Read More

Slow-moving traffic has become the daily bane of road users on Penang Island and has recently gotten worse. With a population of 752,800 people, the island had 1.03 million private car registrations in 2014 – a staggering increase of 32.9% in seven years from 2008. Road users commute for various ... Read More

Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O) has awarded a contract to China Communications Construction Co Ltd (CCCC) to undertake land reclamation works for Seri Tanjung Pinang Phase 2 (STP2) in Penang. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, E&O said its subsidiary Tanjung Pinang Development Sdn Bhd had issued a letter of ... Read More

A string of innovative housing packages to counter the high rate of bank loan rejections will be introduced in Penang soon. State Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh said details of the packages, which would be introduced in stages, would help to cushion the loan rejections of ... Read More

A developer has offered four compensation options to residents of 823 squatter units in Sungai Nibong Kecil and Sungai Nibong Tengah, Penang, who have to make way for a mixed development project. The options given by Hunza Properties Berhad are cash, cluster houses in Bertam and low-cost flats in Bertam ... Read More

First-time buyers of affordable houses not left out too Various house ownership programmes for all levels of income have been allocated for in Budget 2016. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said PR1MA would build 175,000 houses, which will be sold at 20% be­low market prices, with an allocation ... Read More

The median home value in Malaysia has hit the RM300,000 mark in the first half of 2015 (1H15), with Selangor, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak continuing to exceed the average price since 2004. Preliminary data for the second quarter of 2015 showed the Malaysian Housing Price Index registering 220.2 points, which ... Read More

The federal government’s 1Malaysia People’s Housing Scheme (PR1MA) in Penang may see projects by other developers being taken over, Penang Federal Action Council chairman Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Osman said yesterday. He said PR1MA was looking at projects that had run out of funds, and even completed projects, so as ... Read More

The RM350mil Subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre (SPICE) project in Bayan Baru is 80% done and should be completed by the end of next year. Among the components already up are the SPICE Aquatic Club (RM16mil), SPICE Canopy comprising F&B retail outlets (RM28mil) and the upgrading of the ... Read More

By National House Buyers Association In our article last month, we highlighted the report by Khazanah Research Institute on ‘Making Housing Affordable’, which showed that the Malaysian all-house price index grew steadily at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.1% from 2000 to 2009, and suddenly accelerated at a ... Read More