Home ownership a burden for young and middle income group

A HOME is a basic necessity for everyone to live comfortably. Many newlyweds dream of owning a home. However, home ownership has become a huge problem for Malaysians, especially those in the young and middleincome group.

The reasons are varied but the high prices of houses and high cost of living make it a near impossibility for many between the ages of 23 and 40 to own homes.

According to news reports, the rise in house prices, due to imbalances in supply and demand that worsened from 2012 to 2014, has outstripped the rise in income levels of most Malaysians

The middle income group who earn between RM3,860 and RM8,319 monthly, are not able to afford landed property in urban areas such as Kuala Lumpur, which are priced between RM800,000 and RM1 million.

Furthermore, property prices are pushed up by a speculative market. It seems people are buying houses not to stay in but to invest in.

The only choice for people in the middle income group is to buy low-cost houses or to continue to stay in rented homes. This is an issue the government needs to tackle.

The issue can be resolved by focusing on affordable housing, with measures to support homebuyers and developers.

The government should develop more 1Malaysia People’s Housing (PR1MA) and 1Malaysia Civil Servants Homes (PPA1M) housing schemes under the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016 to 2020).

The government has a target of providing 653,000 affordable houses under the 11th Malaysia Plan and establish a land bank for future potential housing projects.

Developers should also be socially responsible. They should build affordable houses rather than expensive ones only to complain that the banks are not approving housing loans.