‘Prices beyond the reach of Malaysians’
KUALA LUMPUR: The prevailing local median prices of houses are beyond the reach of most Malaysians, which led to undersupply of affordable homes in the country.
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong said the main reason was the gross mismatch between housing supply and demand, amid different expectations between households and developers.
“Under the 2018 Budget, the government has emphasised that it will continue to intensify efforts to increase homeownership for the rakyat with an allocation of RM2.2 billion.
“The budget will be used for 17,300 units under the People’s Housing Programme (PPR), 3,000 units of People’s Friendly Home under Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB) and 210,000 houses under 1Malaysia People’s Housing Programme (PR1MA) with prices from RM250,000 and below,” he said.
Lee said SPNB Aspirasi Sdn Bhd (SASB), wholly-owned by SPNB, planned to build an additional 473 units of affordable homes before tyear-end. Another 5,518 units were expected to be launched next year with a total gross development value of RM2 billion.
Lee was speaking at the launch of a collaboration between PRG Holdings Bhd and and Jiangsu Provincial Construction (M) Sdn Bhd (JPC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of China-based Jiangsu Provincial Construction Group Ltd, here, on Saturday. John Gilbert