Buyers find it difficult to get loans for affordable housing, says Jagdeep

GEORGE TOWN (Oct 22): The Penang government has once again urged Putrajaya to address the high rejection rate for loan applications to buy low-cost and affordable homes.

State housing executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo (pictured) said the cheaper the house, the higher the rejection rate for buyers seeking bank loans to purchase the unit.

"The cheapest unit is at RM42,000 and the rejection rate is the highest for loan applications to buy such units.

"But the more expensive the unit, the easier it is to get a loan for it," he said, adding that the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) had found that the rejection rate for housing loans was at 70%, with Johor, Selangor and Penang having the most cases.

Jagdeep said it was hoped that the issue of affordable housing and the high bank loan rejection rate would be addressed and given priority in Budget 2016, which would be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat this Friday by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

He also urged the government to speed up approvals for funds applied from the 1Malaysia Maintenance Fund (TR1M) by low-cost and low-medium cost flats to pay for critical repairs and maintenance of their buildings.

He said the state had enquired many times about whether TR1M was still being continued and recently he was informed that the Housing Ministry would call a meeting on TR1M and the maintenance of public housing projects with state governments.

The meeting is aimed at addressing implementation issues concerning TR1M, make improvements, set up a more comprehensive action plan and foster better strategic cooperation between the states and the ministry.

It was supposed to be held tomorrow in the Parliament building, in Kuala Lumpur, but has since been postponed.

Jagdeep said the letter about the meeting that was sent by Deputy Housing Minister Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique on Monday was a good development, even though the meeting had been postponed.

"At least we have received a response and know that the government had a meeting planned to address issues concerning the fund. We now hope a new date will be set for the meeting," he told reporters today.

According to the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) of the Prime Minister's Department, TR1M applications for 33 projects in Penang had been approved from 2013 to last month. -- The Malaysian Insider

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