NEW STRAITS TIMES. 29TH SEPTEMBER: The Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) Malaysia in its wishlist for Budget 2024 has asked for the government’s intervention in making houses more affordable.
This is to be done by a temporary reduction or removal of import levy on building materials and a reduction in property charges by state authorities, to reduce cost of housing and incentives for home purchases.
“Other than the cross-subsidy method that developers have to undertake to build affordable housing, another major factor that contribute to the (housing inaffordability) issue is the rising input cost for building materials, which correlates directly with rising house prices.
Government’s intervention such as temporary reduction or removal of import levy will definitely go a long way in mitigating the problem. Similarly, the rising land cost is adversely impacting house prices,” the property develper’s association said in a statement today.
Rehda said a reduction in property charges imposed by state governments and local authorities would most likely reduce house prices to levels that makes homeownership attainable for more rakyat.
The association was referring to a statement by Employees Provident Fund’s chief strategy officer Nurhisham Hussein that for housing to be truly affordable, there should be an overhaul to state finances, as 95 per cent of state income was derived from some form of property tax, such as land conversion premiums.
The association also hopes for the reintroduction or introduction of incentives in the form of tax deductions, grants as well as lower interest rates that will allow more Malaysians to buy a house.