KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- The
Housing and Local Government Ministry will introduce more policies to
check the house price so that the people can afford them.
Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung said the government is aware of
the sharp increase in the price of houses in Klang Valley and major
cities in Johor and Penang.
He told Dewan Rakyat today that the increase was due to supply and
demand, high price of land, rising price of building materials and
availability of facilities and services.
"As a government that puts people first, various measures have been
done to ensure that the people, especially the low and middle income
groups can afford comfortable homes," he said when replying to a
question by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (BN-Gua Musang).
Razaleigh asked whether the Housing and Local Government Ministry is
aware that the house price offered by developers to people in Klang
Valley and several cities have sharply increased.
Chor said under the Tenth Malaysia Plan, the government plans to
build 161,000 affordable homes, 78,000 to be built by the government and
83,000 by private developers.
"Houses built by the government are sold at RM35,000 each while those
built by private developers are sold at RM42,000 to RM50,400 each."
The government also build people's housing projects for the low
income group (less than RM2,500 monthly) and affordable housing via
PR1MA Corporation for the middle income group (RM2,500-RM7,500 monthly).
It also provides loans of up to RM45,000 with payback up to 30 years
for those earning RM750-RM2,500 to build houses on their own land."
Chor said the government wanted to check over speculation in the
property market by reintroducing the Real Property Gains Tax since
January 1, 2010.
It also implemented several control mechanisms by reducing 'Loan to
Value' to 70 per cent for third housing loan and subsequent purchases.
This move will reduce the financial ability of speculators as they
need to advance 30 percent of the cost price of the house using their
own money.
From this year, Bank Negara has also tightened conditions on
financial institutions to ensure that borrowers have the ability to
repay their loans.
To a supplementary question by Razaleigh, he agreed with the Japan
model of building houses near the transport system for the people's
convenience.
On the proposal by Mohamed Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) that the government
look at the opposition budget, Chor said, "The opposition budget in
Buku Jingga will make Malaysia bankrupt."