Government to redefine 'affordable homes'

The Housing and Local Government Ministry is set to redefine the term "affordable home" based on the median income of population in an area.

Its minister, Zuraida Kamaruddin, said there was a big difference in the definition of the term according to regions or states.

She cited Pahang where an affordable home was priced significantly lower than the one in Kuala Lumpur.

"We have to categorise them (house buyers) according to where they are located and match them with their median income in that area. Then we can come out with the (right) prices (for the property)," Zuraida said during the Industry-Government open dialogue in Kuala Lumpur today.

The event was organised by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (ASLI). Also present were its chairman Jeffrey Cheah, director Razman Hashim and acting CEO Melissa Ong.

She stressed the importance of collectively coming up with a threshold price for affordable homes based on a regional mechanism, suggesting that it be capped at RM300,000.

Zuraida said the current property market was flooded with "elite" housing developments that were way out of reach of ordinary Malaysians.

"There is very little interest placed in supplying affordable housing developments, especially in congested city centres such as KL, Penang, and Johor Baru."

Zuraida is concerned that the lack of affordable housing projects would have an underwhelming effect on the bottom 40 per cent of the household income group.

"The majority of the population in this group earned their living in city centres. They are usually forced to rent high-valued properties, which ultimately decreases their purchasing power," she said. -Mkini