Home expo offers over 100,000 affordable units

> Nationwide event to kick off in March and run until end of April, houses priced between RM65,000 and RM350,000 each

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 100,000 units of affordable homes priced between RM65,000 and RM350,000 will be showcased and available for sale at the largest nationwide home expo organised by federal and state government housing agencies, which will kick off in March and run until end of April.

The units are a combination of those completed and under construction.

The first-of-its-kind expo is a joint initiative of National Housing Department (NHD), Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia (PR1MA), Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd, 1Malaysia Housing Projects for Civil Servants (PPA1M) and state government agencies.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, PR1MA CEO Datuk Abdul Mutalib Alias ( pix) said the mega expo aims to increase the awareness of government housing programmes and initiatives among the B40 and M40 groups.

The B40 group refers to Malaysian households earning below RM3,860 a month, while the M40 segment refers to households with income ranging from RM3,860 to RM8,319.

“This is the best chance for the lower income groups to come and evaluate all these (housing) programmes, and see the diversity of prices and locations of these products, based on their affordability,” Abdul Mutalib said, adding that it will work as a onestop centre for the public to assist their queries and facilitate their home ownership journey.

During the expo, he said strategic partners such as Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency, National Higher Education Fund as well as Maybank, CIMB, RHB and AmBank will be participating to help potential home buyers check their credit score and apply for loans.

Abdul Mutalib said Perak will be the first state to host the series of expos, which will be held at Ipoh Convention Centre from March 1 till March 5, 2018, with about 38,000 units available for sale in the state.

He noted that some 20,000 units will be available under PR1MA homes, 7,000 units under Lembaga Perumahan dan Hartanah Perak, 5,700 units by SPNB, 3,000 units under NHD and about 2,000 units under PPA1M.

“About 74% of these units are priced below RM250,000 each, and about 23% of them range between RM250,000 and RM300,000,” Mutalib added.

The expo will be held in 10 other states, namely Sabah, Sarawak, Perlis, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Kelantan, Malacca, Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. PR1MA refused to take questions on the property overhang in PR1MA homes in the country.

The residential property overhang in the country, which worsened in the first half of 2017, mainly due to the high number of unsold completed PR1MA units in Kedah, according to Property Market Report for First Half 2017 published by the Valuation and Property Services Department.

Nationwide, unsold units grew to 20,876 units worth RM12.26 billion during the period, from 13,438 units worth RM7.59 billion a year ago.

Kedah surpassed the overhang numbers in Johor, capturing nearly 21% (4,363 units) of the total national overhang.