GOV'T TAKES THREE KEY MEASURES TO ENSURE ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HOMES

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 (Bernama) -- The government has taken three major steps to control house prices in a bid to ensure the people continue to have access to affordable homes.

Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government Datuk Aiman Athirah Sabu said one of them is capping the ceiling price for affordable homes under the National Affordable Housing Policy at RM300,000.

She added that the ministry has also implemented affordable housing price mapping to ensure the stipulated prices align with the people's financial capacity.

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"The government implemented the affordable housing price mapping based on the state and district median household income from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2024.

"This mapping serves as a reference for determining house prices at each locality and can be accessed on the affordable housing information dashboard on the Malaysian Urban Observatory (MUO) website,” she said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

She was replying to the original question from Muhammad Ismi Mat Taib (PN-Parit) about the steps taken by the government to control the sudden price surge, which is a burden on first-time home buyers.

Aiman Athirah said the ministry has also tightened the monitoring of housing development through the implementation of the Housing Integrated Management System (HIMS), which fully processes housing development licence applications, as well as advertising and sales permits online.

The system, she said, is the main mechanism for collecting housing data for management, monitoring and reporting purposes, as well as for enabling early intervention on projects that are delayed or at risk.

In addition, she said that according to the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) report, house prices in Malaysia have been rising, with the Malaysian Housing Index for the first half of 2025 recording 227.3 points and an average price of RM490,376 per unit.

At the same time, the government has also strengthened efforts to help first-time home buyers purchase their own homes through the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme (SJKP), which provides guaranteed financing of up to RM500,000, especially for B40 and M40 groups, including individuals with no fixed income.

She said the SJKP also offers housing loans up to 120 per cent of the property price for first-time home buyers, in addition to providing the step-up financing scheme, which features lower initial monthly instalments that gradually increase as the borrower's income grows.

-- BERNAMA