Malacca’s Real Estate and Housing Developer’s Association (REHDA) is urging the state authorities to do away with its limits on all home prices, except for low-cost houses, reported the New Straits Times.
“We appeal to the state government to impose a price control only on affordable housing units ranging between RM150,000 and RM180,000 for the lower range income buyers,” said Datuk Ngoh King Hua, Chairman of REHDA Malacca branch.
“But for other classes, let us have a free hand to do our business,” he told reporters during a media briefing on Tuesday (12 April) on Malacca’s 1st Malaysia Property Expo (Mapex) this year.
He explained that this is to foster a healthy but competitive free housing market, and allow developers to be creative in designing their products to suit the preference of buyers of midscale and luxury units.
Datuk Anthony Adam Cho, the most recent former chairman of REHDA Malacca, also attended the media conference. He noted that the state’s price limits on all properties have hindered the creativity and innovation of developers in building niche houses.
“Many developers dare not supply new houses in the niche market and houses above the affordable housing category, due to the price restriction imposed in 2013.”
He said removing the price caps on upscale houses would be timely, given the state government’s excellent progress in achieving its target of providing 50,000 low-cost homes to its citizens by 2020.
“In order to continue motivating and assisting local developers, we hope that the state government can allow a free market option instead of restricting us in pricing,” Cho noted.
Another issue raised by developers in Malacca is the limitations on freeing up bumiputera industrial and commercial units.
“The state has not changed its policy to release bumiputera units but only allows swapping of bumiputera units. But this policy is almost ineffective, time-consuming besides involving a lot of paperwork, and only involved a very small successful swapping,” explained Ngoh.
“In some cases, a developer ended up having more bumiputera units in one area when you swap a unit from one area with two or three units from another area.”
Ngoh revealed that developers in the state have no problem finding qualified buyers for bumi residential units, but this group of buyers are not interested in buying industrial and commercial units.
While there’s no exact statistics provided by REHDA on the total number of unsold industrial and commercial units for bumiputeras, its Deputy Chairman Chee Siang Oy estimated that bumi units account for a huge number.
For instance, he said in this year’s Mapex, there are 19 developers participating along with the Malacca Housing Board. Chee estimates that about 30 to 40 percent of the units they are offering in the event are non-bumi units, while 60 to 70 percent are bumiputera units.
“But bear in mind we also have developers who are not participating in this exhibition,” said Chee, adding that there are 82 developers based in Malacca, of which 20 are active.
At present, the state government is upholding a bumi quota of 30 percent for industrial units, 40 percent for commercial properties and 60 percent for houses.
Other challenges being faced by developers in Malacca include the rising cost of construction due to the weaker ringgit and higher cost in complying with existing government regulations, added Ngoh. Another is the strict housing loan rules of banks.
Malacca’s inaugural Mapex will be held at the Mahkota Parade on 28-29 April. It will showcase approximately 2,075 properties priced between RM42,000 and RM2.7 million.
Among the most anticipated properties to look out for in Malacca are:
2. Tiaraville, Tiara Melaka Gold and Country Club
Radin Ghazali, Content Writer at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email radin@propertyguru.com.my
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