‘REVEAL STATS ON DEFAULTERS’
Banks imposing stricter policies on new home buyers, says Rehda
THE Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) has told banks to come clean about figures on loan defaulters which they have used to impose stricter lending policies.
Its former Penang chairman, Datuk Jerry Chan, said Malaysians had been treating housing loan repayments as an important part of their lives and the loan default rate had not gone up much in recent years.
The financial institutions had been implementing strict policies which, he alleged, made it difficult for new homebuyers to secure loans.
“Banks should be receptive to what the developers and the government are doing. They should be making housing loans easier, with the percentage that the purchaser wants.
“For housing loans, the criteria has changed now but the loans given prior to that did not face any (repayment) problems.
“Now the criteria has changed and salaries have gone up as well but people are facing problems,” he said at the Malaysia Property Expo (Mapex) Penang at Udini Square here yesterday.
He said people were willing to earn extra income and take up part-time jobs so that they could pay their housing loans.
“They will do their best to pay the loans. Malaysians are resourceful,” he said.
Chan said people were still waiting for the state government’s announcement on reduction of charges imposed on developers for property developments.
He said this was originally announced by Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow together with Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo, who said there would be no new charges imposed on them and the existing ones would be reduced.
The charges include drainage contribution, low-medium cost contribution, infrastructure charges, sewage charges, open space charges, parking charges and more.
Two weeks ago, Chow again mentioned it and said that Jagdeep would be announcing the reduction.
“We are surprised. Since July last year, the announcement has not been forthcoming. They are very efficient and quick, so we are surprised about this. The charges have been increasing from year to year for many years.
“The state government understood the problem and said they would reduce it. It has been at least six months since the announcement was made.”
Penang Rehda chairman Datuk Toh Chin Leong said they had requested the state government to extend exemption of approval fees for foreigners who wanted to buy houses in the state.
The state government originally imposed a three per cent approval fee on top of the price of the house.
Jagdeep said that the approval fee would be waived from Feb 1 for one month for all high-end properties sold in the state.
“But we have written to the state government to extend it until June. We need time to advertise this new exemption.
“There are so many things to be done by the buyer before they apply for loans and by then the one-month window could be over. So we have requested to extend this waiver until June.”