Tower A units, sized from 450 sq ft to 750 sq ft, cost an affordable RM318,000 onwards.

Attraction is due to the conversion rate of the currencies of RM600,000 to about S$200,000.

Rehda president Datuk Soam Heng Choon: Some sceptics have very narrow thinking. They don’t look at the big picture. They don’t realise that their own wealth will be destroyed as well if we don’t resolve the overhang issue.

Rehda president Datuk Soam Heng Choon: We must look at it from the perspective of the industry as a whole. We don’t want to have a situation where we have excessive inventory and developers cannot reinvest. If we are stuck, how can we do affordable housing?

The delegates found the visit to the Fujisawa Smart and Sustainable Township to be the highlight of the tour while gaining from the discussions and networking among members of the delegation.

‘Self-discipline’ of developers will help improve the local property market

“It helps revive the local construction industry and ensures developers have a healthy working capital.”

Some of the initiatives are just extensions of existing programmes, such as Bank Simpanan Nasional’s Youth Housing Scheme, which has been running since 2005, said Datuk Soam Heng Choon.

“Developers cannot arbitrarily increase the price from RM500,000 to RM600,000 because of the lowering of the threshold.”

Rehda Institute also appreciated the government’s effort in introducing the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) which has generated strong market interest and achieved good sales results. The association hopes the government will consider extending the campaign to next year in light of its success.