The Real Estate and Housing Developers Association Malaysia (Rehda) Institute has identified today nine structural problems which it said are behind why the country is struggling to ensure a sustainable supply of public housing.

The report titled “Affordable Housing Report” released this morning cited fragmented playing field between public and private sectors, rigid housing policies, unsuitable location, land scarcity, cross subsidies that purportedly made houses more expensive, rising material costs, unproductive use of public funds that led to oversupplies, lower financial approval rate for the lower income groups, and absence of latest market data.

“At the moment, there is a lack of coordination between the public and private sectors in providing affordable homes,” Rehda Institute chairman Datuk Jeffrey Ng said at the media briefing session.

“There are various definition of what affordable means and the median household income differs from state to state,” he added.

Ng explained that there were many agencies within the government sector that were in charge of providing affordable housing projects and likewise in the private sector.

He pointed out that this led to a lack of coordination, which has resulted in the mismatch of supply and demand, thus, leading to the tens of thousands of unsold units.

As of the first quarter of this year, Malaysia recorded a total of 23,599 in residential overhang.

Most, however, are contributed from properties worth RM500,000 and above, and mostly came from Selangor, Johor and Penang.

“Every housing project approval is imposed with affordable housing quota which is scattered in various locations including where there may be no demand and lack of a suitable eco system,” the report said.

To address this problem, Ng said Putrajaya needs to set up a Special Purpose Central Agency (SPCA) under the housing ministry to redefine the roles of public and private sector in providing a holistic master planning for affordable homes.

“SPCA should streamline the functions and policy formulation based on household income and demographics in respective states and local areas,” he said.

For example, he said the Bumiputera quota policy needed to be re-examined as he explained that unsold units contributed from this category not only added to the unsold units in country, but also cost developers for holding such units.

“The release mechanism of unsold Bumiputera quota must be transparent and within reasonable time,” the report said.

The report also pointed that an unsustainable crossed subsidy model in private developments resulted in purchasers of non-quota houses to pay a higher price for subsidised affordable housing units.

“If the government can define the price range for affordable homes price range, public sectors can focus on that while the private sector can focus solely on properties based on market demand,” Ng explained.

Other initiatives to tackle this problem, the report cited, include converting subsidies to social housing stock such as rental programmes and sale of affordable homes to those who can afford, especially for the middle and bottom 40 groups.

The report also proposed for banks to offer 100 per cent housing loan to the lower income groups and first-time home buyer, as well as to reintroduce the Developer Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS) with a proper mechanism.

Source: MalayMail.com

Seriously, this piece of narrow land valued at RM13,000,000?

Steel products maker Atta Global Group Bhd is proposing to acquire two property development companies, Eminent Potential Sdn Bhd and Scanrite Sdn Bhd, for RM7.5 million, as part of its diversification into the property business.

In a filing to the exchange yesterday, Atta Global said its wholly-owned subsidiary Atta Properties Sdn Bhd had entered into two share sale agreements with the joint owners of the two companies, Chan Kok Leong and Leng Mei Kuan, for the acquisitions.

The agreements would see Atta Properties acquiring Eminent for RM4 million, and Scanrite for RM2 million. Eminent has a principal asset which is a piece of land in Daerah Barat Daya, Penang. Atta Properties has agreed to fork out an additional RM1.5 million for cost and expenses for the eviction of all squatters on the said property.

According to Henry Butcher Malaysia, the value of the was RM13 million as at Jan 3, 2017.

Atta Properties will also acquire Scanrite, which owns a piece of land in Kulim, Kedah for RM2 million. In a valuation dated Aug 6, 2015, Rahim & Co indicated the value of the land was RM2.88 million.

Atta Global said the proposed acquisitions will provide the group with opportunities to obtain additional land bank for future development. “The board is optimistic that the proposed acquisitions would generate synergistic benefits to the group in future.”

Source: EdgeProp.my

It was a merry evening where visitors enjoyed multi-cultural performances, scrumptious food and fun activities at the Hari Raya open house hosted by SP Setia Berhad.

There were also various workshops and a beautiful fireworks display during the event at Setia Sky Vista in Lebuh Relau, Bayan Lepas.

The celebration attended by 700 guests also saw the opening of the Setia Sky Vista sales suite.

Showcasing one of the 11 types of units found in Setia Sky Vista, the sales suite features a model of the 1,195sq ft unit that comes with partial furnishing.

SP Setia is also offering a slew of promotions and incentives to buyers as part of its Setia Property North Campaign to celebrate its 15-year presence in Penang.

The ‘Ka Ki Lang’ Bonanza Campaign offers rewards like zero payment until the vacant possession delivery of the unit, RM30,000 worth of electrical vouchers, bank loan instalment subsidy, rental guarantee for a year, free maintenance fee and sinking fund, loyal customer rebates and introducer cash rewards among others.

There will also be an additional 1% rebate in conjunction with the new sales suite until July 31.

Find out more about Setia Sky Vista

Source: TheStar.com.my

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21 July 2018, 2PM – 6PM

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Penang CM wants to enable more Penang folk to have a roof over their heads. He feels that fresh graduates may not be able to afford a home as their incomes are not growing in proportion with housing prices. Hence, while the current low-cost and low-medium-cost housing schemes will still carry on, the state is also mulling rent-to-own schemes.

“Even for units that are priced at RM42,000 or RM72,000, many are still unable to own a home in this category. Securing a bank loan has been a problem in recent years, so we are thinking of this segment of people who can’t afford to purchase even a low-cost or low-medium-cost unit. We hope the rent-to-own concept would be able to fulfil the needs of this category of people.

“We will convert some existing affordable housing schemes into rent-to-own schemes as some of these projects are ongoing and we have yet to allocate the units to buyers. Once we start allocating the units, we can offer this scheme instead of outright purchase. This will also help us to reduce the holding cost of the units. We may work with private developers to sell the units they have built to the state government at cost price and the state government can then allocate these units as part of a rent-to-own scheme,” he shares.

Chow also sees the need for a paradigm shift in the idea of homeownership.

“We have been inculcated with the idea of home democracy where everyone should own a home. But if we are talking about having a roof over our heads for our family, then we need to do some rethinking — can we achieve that through rental?

“Especially for the young working group with income levels at the starting level, maybe they can have a roof over their heads through the rental market,” he suggests.

However, he notes that there is one thing preventing the implementation of rent-to-own schemes — rental defaulters, which is an issue even for rental units that are only costing RM100 per month.

“I am sure you read about the execution of a recent eviction that we carried out recently. Even at RM100, they cannot afford to pay or they don’t want to pay for whatever reason. This is a challenge for the authorities if people cannot or do not fulfill this basic responsibility. Probably, there is no sense of ownership. They keep paying their rent and in the end they get nothing. But if the unit is tied to ownership, this rent-to-own [scheme] may encourage them to pay the rent which they can consider as installment as eventually, they will own the house. Hopefully, this will change the equation as to why people default on rent,” he says.

Source: EdgeProp.my