Housing prices are expected to keep soaring despite the government’s continued efforts to strive for a balance between demand and supply by constructing more affordable houses.
Assistant Minister for Housing Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said a residential unit which is priced at RM100,000 today might be valued at RM1 million 10 years later.
“In the 70s, a single-storey terrace house was available at RM14,000 but now it is priced at or over RM350,000. What happens now is that the demand exceeds the supply,” he said when responding to questions raised by Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi (BN-Pantai Damai) and Ripin Lamat (BN-Lambir) in the august House yesterday.
Karim pointed out that the state government had launched several initiatives to monitor housing prices particularly those of the affordable houses intended for the low-income group.
To ensure that people could own a house, he said ceiling prices had been set for low-cost houses at RM50,400 per intermediate unit and RM59,220 per corner unit.
“For medium-cost houses, we have fixed RM80,000 for intermediate units and RM100,000 for corner lots. In addition, we have also launched projects such as Rumah Mesra Rakyat (RMR), Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR), Rumah Mampu Milik (PMM), MyHome Scheme and Program Perumahan Penjawat Awam 1Malaysia.”
He said the Industralised Building System (IBS) was also encouraged for developing housing projects to bring down the construction costs.
Housing projects such as PPR and RMR in the state had utilised the IBS to eventually reduce the selling prices, he added.
“To add to that, the federal government has also increased the Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) whereby any sales of properties within three years of purchase will be taxed 30 per cent.”
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