PSM: Penang's new housing measures benefit developers, not house buyers

The new measures announced by the Penang government to overcome the issue of overhang in the state's housing sector appear to benefit developers rather than people who need homes, said a Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) leader.

PSM central committee member Choo Chon Kai said Penang state executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo had failed to understand that the root problem was the price of “so-called” affordable housing.

"The fact is the affordable housing scheme is not affordable for most of the supposedly eligible house buyers," Choo said in a Facebook post yesterday.

"And the measures announced look like (they are meant) just to help the profit-hunger (sic) housing developer rather than the people who need housing!"

Asked to elaborate further, Choo reminded the Penang government about PSM's housing proposal, which had been put forward to Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow in December last year.

He said that PSM had proposed the setting up of a non-profit People’s Housing Board to ensure that people can own their first homes.

"This scheme is separate from the normal housing market.

"The units are sold to eligible first-time buyers at a cost that is a little higher than the construction cost," Choo told Malaysiakini.

"The units can only be sold back to the board, which in turn can provide the units to others in need," he added.

New measures

He was responding to Jagdeep, the exco for local government, housing, and town and country planning, who yesterday declared a slew of new measures to stimulate the state's housing market.

One of the measures is allowing non-Penangites to buy 20 to 40 percent of affordable homes in the open market. The cost of these homes range between RM150,000 to RM300,000.

Another measure is exempting properties costing under RM1 million from stamp duty in the first six months of 2019.

Jagdeep also announced that the household income required for house buyers to be eligible for affordable housing would be increased across the board.

This has been revised to RM8,000 (from RM6,000) for a RM150,000 unit; RM10,000 (from RM8,000) for a RM200,000 unit; and RM12,000 (from RM10,000) for a RM300,000 unit.

Choo said the state government had failed to address the issue of high property prices, while raising the household income cap to qualify for affordable housing.

"Can the income of those who cannot afford to buy a house or those unable to secure a housing loan increase automatically when you raise the household income for the application of affordable housing?" Choo asked.

He also rejected Jagdeep’s claim that affordable housing units could not be sold due to the high rejection rate of housing loans.

"He does not realise that the price range of the so-called affordable housing is really not affordable for those within the income group of the supposedly eligible buyers," he added. - Mkini

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