Story by Chan Lilian
SENSITIVE to the people’s needs, several new measures are being taken by the Penang state government to ensure that the people can get access to purchase affordable homes.
One of them is to raise the income ceiling so that more people can get a loan to purchase a property.
The other is to create a new category of affordable housing costing RM150,000 so that those with household income of RM6,000 and below/above can purchase a home.
At the same time, those who already own properties may be interested to learn about the new measures.
Speaking at a press conference in Komtar on Oct 12, Jagdeep Singh Deo, who is the exco member for Town and Country Planning and Housing, said: “The Penang state is making affordable housing more accessible. Bank Negara is urged to ease loan conditions on affordable housing purchasers.”
Since the introduction of the new category of affordable housing by the state government in January, 2014, 12 projects have been announced and these will see the provision of some 22,512 units of such affordable housing. Further, the private sector has submitted plans to build some 12,600 units of affordable housing in Penang.
“Since the introduction of such affordable housing, we have seen that the main obstacle to such affordable home ownership by first-time buyers is the high loan rejection rate by commercial banks. In fact I have written to the Governor of Bank Negara, Tan Sri Zeti, requesting that a meeting be held to address this issue. However, she has yet to respond to my request,” Jagdeep said.
The state government has decided that to stimulate accessibility to such affordable housing several new measures will be introduced, namely as follows:
Currently, the nett household income ceiling for applicants for affordable housing of RM200,000; RM300,000 and RM400,000 is RM6,000; RM8,000 and RM10,000 respectively.
Having regard to the fact that the banking sector may view this category of applicants as risky and as such, the high loan rejection rate, it was decided to increase the said household income ceiling to RM8,000; RM10,000 and RM12,000 respectively.
One of the more important points to note is a new category of housing costing RM150,000.
“We have taken into consideration those who previously earned RM6,000 who were eligible for such affordable housing, and for this category, we have now introduced a new category of affordable housing, namely units priced at RM150,000. These units are also sized at a minimum of 750 sq ft, but without finishing (unlike the RM200,000 units),” Jagdeep said.
In effect, Penang now has affordable housing ranging from RM42,000 (low cost) with a nett household income cap of RM2,500; RM72,500 (low medium cost) with a nett household income cap of RM3,500; RM150,000 (affordable housing) with a nett household income cap of RM6,000; RM200,000 (affordable housing) with a nett household income cap of RM8,000; RM300,000 (affordable housing) with a nett household income cap of RM10,000 and RM400,000 with a nett household income cap of RM12,000.
“It is hoped that more applicants will be able to obtain bank loans with this revision of the nett household income cap and therefore more Penangites will be able to access such affordable housing,” Jagdeep said.
“It is imperative that the affordable housing projects take off without delay. Towards this end, for any such project to be viable and ready to be executed there must be a minimum of 60% take-up. However, the market is generally seen as slow, not just for affordable housing but for all developments generally.
“As such, in order to stimulate the sale of such affordable housing units, we have also decided to enlarge the pool of eligible buyers to those who already own property. Currently, this is permitted, however with a restriction to those who only own a low or low medium cost unit. It has now been decided that those who own a property but one that does not exceed the price of the affordable housing unit intended to be purchased, may purchase such an affordable housing unit. However, the original property owned has to be purchased after 2008,” he added.
Also, in order to stimulate the development of such affordable housing, it has also been decided that 30% of the units in any particular 100% affordable housing project may be sold on the open market, on condition that the said units are to be sold at 10% above the controlled price in all districts except the Northeast district, where it is to be sold 20% above the controlled price.
Further, the purchaser under this category also has to be a registered voter in Penang and may only purchase one such affordable housing unit, and the moratorium on the said unit is five years from hand-over of keys (unlike the current five years from sales and purchase agreement).
The developers for this new open market category will have to contribute to the Penang state government the top-up in price, not in cash but in kind, namely in actual affordable housing units in the said particular project, which will enable the state government to have its own affordable housing stock which can be allocated to those who are on the list.
“It is hoped that those who intend to purchase such affordable housing units will act fast and not delay, as with these new measures in place, I am certain that the said units will be taken up very quickly,” Jagdeep said.} else {