Selangor’s new guidelines on state property development effectively reduced prices of affordable serviced apartments, SoVo (small office, versatile office) and SoHo (small office, home office) units for everyone, regardless of their racial background, said state exco Datuk Teng Chang Khim.
“Under the existing practice, 10 percent discount is given to bumiputra buyers.”
“Considering that the target group is all the same – they are all people in need – we decided to extend the discount to all by reducing the properties’ ceiling price,” he said.
“We offer these properties to the lower and medium income groups. There is no reason that bumiputras are given the discount and not non-bumiputras,” added Teng.
He dismissed reports that the state government will no longer offer bumiputra buyers a 10 percent discount for such homes.
“There is no question about abolishing it (the 10 percent bumiputra discount) but we lowered the price and standardised it for all,”’ he explained.
He cited the example where a property’s ceiling price is lowered to RM270,000 from RM300,000, which will be enjoyed by all buyers from 1 September.
“’Under the new guidelines, bumiputra buyers are not affected because they still enjoy a lower price,” said Teng.
“’The state has also to set the selling price of these properties between RM230,000 and RM270,000.”
To allow more people to qualify, the maximum household income for eligible buyers was also raised to RM15,000 from RM8,000 previously.
Teng, who also serves as state Industry and Commerce, Small and Medium Enterprises and Transportation executive chairman, said Selangor made the move following suggestions to lower affordable property prices to benefit medium- and low-income buyers.
Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali noted that as far as low-cost and affordable homes are concerned, the need transcends religion, race, background and skin colour.
“Being less financially capable and poor cuts across races and religions. Selangor’s principle is to help those with lower income to own homes,” he said.
“We have agreed on some new guidelines and they will be announced in detail by Datuk Teng and (Housing Exco) Datuk Iskandar (Abdul Samad) later,” he added.
Mangalesri Chandrasekaran, Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email mangales@propertyguru.com.my
