Ensuring all Malaysians have quality housing
THE people’s aspiration to have homes to call their own is among the government’s main focuses to ensure families from all socioeconomic groups in the country can afford to own comfortable quality homes.
The government has conducted various initiatives, including allocating funds to continue efforts to provide housing for all in the effort to realise this goal.
For low income families (B40), the government has carried out several initiatives such as the People’s Housing Programme, which rents out or sells homes at a very low rate of between RM35,000 and RM42,000, with the rest of the costs subsidised by the government.
Besides that, for those from the B40 group without homes or living in dilapidated houses but own land, there is the Rumah Mesra Rakyat 1Malaysia (RMR1M) programme where the Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB) builds houses for them at a cost of RM65,000, with a government subsidy of RM20,000, plus a subsidy of 2 per cent of the bank profit rate.
There is also the Rumah Idaman Rakyat programme, where houses are built on state by SPNB or federal government and sold for a maximum of RM350,000 for income group of RM7,500 and below (individual), or RM10,000 and below (household). Priority is given to buyers who are disabled or single mothers.
There is also Federal Territories Affordable Home Programme (RUMAWIP), which is targeted at Malaysians living or working in the Federal Territories wishing to buy their first home there. RUMAWIP are sold at between RM63,000 and RM300,000.
The government has also introduced a scheme to help the people own homes, one of which is the My First Home Scheme, which was introduced for young people just entering the workforce with an income of less than RM5,000 to receive 100 per cent home financing. This means they are not required to come up with a down payment or deposit to purchase the house.
At the same time, the government has also announced the MyDeposit scheme, where the government will help those wishing to purchase homes but do not have enough for the down payment, by paying the
deposit of 10 per cent or a maximum of RM30,000 for residential properties priced at RM500,000 and below. PR1MA helps M40 group to own homes
For the middle income 40 per cent (M40), the government offers the Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia, where housing projects have been built in strategic locations nationwide, and priced between RM100,000 and RM400,000.
PR1MA comes under the PR1MA Act 2012, for the purpose of planning, developing, constructing, and selling high quality housing to suit the modern lifestyles of urban folk with a medium household income of between RM2,500 and RM15,000 per month.
In Sabah, more than 17,000 PR1MA houses are at various stages of construction. From that figure, around 5,000 units were open for sale in the first quarter of this year to the M40 group who wish to own quality housing complete with facilities to fulfil their lifestyle needs. Among the PR1MA projects that have been sold in the first three months of this year are PR1MA @ Borneo Cove (999 units), PR1MA @ Kota Marudu (360 units), PR1MA @ Ranggu (1,300 units), PR1MA @ Kinarut South (502 units), PR1MA @ Menggatal (1,200 units), PR1MA @ Sandakan City Centre (750 units), and PR1MA @ Kota Marudu 2 (360 units). To date, Sabah is the state with the second highest number of approvals from the PR1MA Members of Corporation (MOC) in the country to build PR1MA housing at nearly 30,028 units after Selangor (51,992 units), followed by Johor (23,990 units), Melaka (22,514 units), and Perak (20,148 units).
In Sarawak, a total of 16 projects with 18,309 PR1MA units have been approved to be developed. From that figure, four projects comprising 6,468 units are at various stages of development.
The three PR1MA projects that are already on the market are PR1MA @ Matang (912 units), PR1MA @ Semenggoh (1,260 units), and PR1MA @ Bintawa Riverfront (1,320 units). The three projects were launched in 2016 and 2017.
As of last February, a total of 68,547 members of the public from the M40 group have registered for PR1MA homes in Sarawak.
PR1MA is among those empowered to develop, manage, and maintain PR1MA housing communities by providing home owners with a comfortable and quality lifestyle within a harmonious community.