Share
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Developers’ Council (MDC) wants the government to expand the coverage of the newly launched My First Home Scheme.
It proposed that the RM100,000 minimum housing price for eligibility under the scheme be lowered to benefit lower income homebuyers of medium low-cost housing, said MDC in a statement. The eligibility however, should exclude low-cost housing.
Under the scheme launched by the government with the collaboration of national mortgage company Cagamas Bhd and financial institutions, first time homebuyers earning less than RM3,000 per month can obtain 100% financing for houses priced between RM100,000 and RM220,000 with a repayment period of 30 years.
Although the scheme will boost the housing market by promoting home ownership among Malaysians, it needs to be reviewed to benefit more homebuyers, said MDC.
It also proposed a review of the RM220,000 threshold of eligibility as there are a very limited number of houses in this price range in most urban areas.
“These include the Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, where there are huge markets for first time housebuyers due to the high urbanisation rate,” it said.
The MDC is made up of the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda), the Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (SHEDA) and the Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (SHAREDA).
The council also urged Cagamas and the banks involved to coordinate the timely implementation of the scheme to avoid procedural delays for homebuyers taking up the scheme.
The council said these were some of the proposals that arose from MDC’s biannual council meeting recently.
This article appeared on the Property page, The Edge Financial Daily, April 22, 2011.
