Place limits on homes bought for investment, say KJ and Shahril

 

About 60% of unsold homes are high-end properties which are too expensive for most people, said Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

The government should place limits on homes bought for investment as a way to deal with the shortage of affordable housing, say former Umno officials Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan.

Providing longer housing loans, beyond the present 30-year limit, would not work, they said in their Keluar Sekejap podcast.

The longer mortgages had been suggested by deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recently.

Khairy and Shahril said the government should instead place a cap on how many homes people can buy for investment, as the market is flooded with expensive homes that remain unsold, pushing prices higher.

They said 60% of unsold homes are high-end properties which are too expensive for most people.

It’s better to focus on controlling home prices by limiting how many second or third homes people can buy,

 Shahril said.

Khairy said that developers build without considering what buyers can actually afford. 

When these expensive homes don’t sell, they pressure the government to make policies that benefit them, like extending loan terms. But this isn’t right,

 Khairy said.

Shahril said easier home loans might only lead to greater long-term debt for future generations.

Khairy described longer mortgages as 

debt until death

, causing financial problems for buyers but not solving the real problem of too many unaffordable homes. 

I’m worried that it’s really just delaying the problem.

He said it was likely that developers might be pushing for these changes to benefit themselves. 

Who gains from this? Developers, of course,

 he said. Shahril also described the proposal as a populist move. 

We’re just adding to the debt burden on the youths. It looks good on paper, but it’s harmful if we’re not careful,

 he said. - FMT