Govt increases housing density for urban centres

THE state government has raised the housing density in Kuching, Sibu, Miri and Bintulu to ensure more optimum usage of land and mitigate its scarcity in urban centres which led to escalation of land prices.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg revealed this in his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly yesterday.

“The new density for normal housing is 10 units per acre compared to eight units per acre previously whereas for high-rise f lats/apartment/condominium and townhouses, it is 30 units per acre compared to 24 units per acre under the old policy.

“The increase in density would allow more affordable housing units to be built while at the same time, help to partially mitigate hikes in house prices,” he said.

He pointed out Sarawak population is projected to increase from 2.63 million in 2015 to 3.36 million in 2035.

The state’s annual average housing needs are approximately 14,000 units and the projected housing needs will be 58,057 units by 2020.

He added

The new density for normal housing is 10 units per acre compared to eight units per acre previously whereas for high-rise flats/ apartment/condominium and townhouses, it is 30 units per acre compared to 24 units per acre under the old policy.

it was expected that approximately 20 per cent of Sarawak population will be between the age 25 to 35 in the year 2020. This group would become first-time house buyers.

“Many of these young people will have difficulties in purchasing a house if they do not have enough savings of their own, as reflected in a survey conducted in 2014, in which 75 per cent of households have less than 11 per cent of their income being put into personal saving.

“While this situation is certainly a cause for concern, we also continue to be saddled with housing affordability issues, which is quite acute especially in major urban centres.

For example, the price of double- storey terraced houses in Kuching is RM550,000 per unit whereas in Bintulu, it is already fetching RM655,000 per unit

Abang Johari who is also the Minister of Housing and Urbanisation noted that in Sarawak, 64.2 per cent of the population could only afford to own houses priced below RM340,000.

What this essentially means is that the state needs to address housing affordability for both the low and middle income households, referred to as B40 and M40 group respectively.

The private housing sector will continue to be the main source of housing in the state.

Between 2005 and 2014, a total of 62,116 units or 40.5 per cent in new houses was added to the housing stock, which accumulated to 217,615 units in 2014. On average, this increase works out to be approximately 6,200 units per year.

To address this prevailing housing affordability issues and exert some form of control over the price of houses, the state government through the State Planning Unit Authority ( SPA) has recently introduced the new Housing Policy and Guidelines this year.

The main objectives of this new policy are to: increase the supply of affordable housing towards bridging the demand and supply gap through mandatory private sector participation; cater for the housing need of not only the lower income group but also the middle income segment; and improve the minimum specifications of low- cost housing units towards meeting the higher expectations and requirements of house buyers.

Under the policy, private developers are required to build affordable houses for up to 30 per cent of their housing project, preferably terraced houses if the land being developed is 10 acres and above.

Affordable houses are divided into Spektra Lite and Spektra Medium categories. ‘Spektra’ is an acronym for ‘Skim Perumahan Khas Rakyat’.

This new policy is to replace the previous low- cost housing policy which no longer serves its purpose and hence, needed to be revamped to suit current state policy requirements and the evolving need of house buyers.

As such, the new policy has also done away with the term ‘low- cost house’ as this has inadvertently created stigma among some members of the public.

Affordable ‘Spektra Lite’ terrace house must be priced not exceeding RM120,000 for corner lots, while the ‘ Spektra Medium’ terrace house be priced not exceeding RM135,000 for intermediate units and not exceeding RM168,000 for corner lots.

House buyers must be approved by the Ministry of Housing and Urbanisation to prevent abuse and misallocation of sales.

A house is considered affordable when the monthly loan repayment does not exceed 30 per cent of the buyer’s gross household income after any applicable rent assistance or housing loan is deducted and the price of the houses does not exceed three times of the household’s gross annual income. These criteria have been used to determine the ceiling price of Spektra houses.

The size of housing has also enlarged from the original minimum figure of 444 square feet under the old low- cost policy to a minimum of 700 square feet. Each house must have three bedrooms instead of two previously.

Private developers who proposed to develop their land for flats/ apartments/ condominiums or townhouses are required to allocate a certain percentage of their development for affordable houses if the land under development is four acres and above.

Abang Jo said affordable flats must be priced not exceeding RM120,000 per unit with a minimum floor area of 700 square feet.

Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, Deputy Chief Minister