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Selangor govt and REHDA awaits SC framework on affordable homes P2P funding

PETALING JAYA: Selangor government and the Selangor branch of the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (REHDA) await Securities Commission (SC) finalising the framework for peer-to-peer (P2P) financing of affordable homes, before they make an official stance.

“It is better for the state government to gather more details of this P2P financing for affordable housing from SC before we can comment on it,” said Selangor state committee chairman for the Selangor state committee on housing and urban living Haniza Mohamed Talha.

“We think, at this stage, it is too premature to comment on this P2P financing for affordable housing as the SC has yet to finalise on the details of the framework,” said REHDA Selangor chairman Zulkifly Garib.

Haniza was speaking to reporters after the launch of the revamped REHSA Selangor website here today.

Also present were REHDA Selangor deputy chairman Datuk Ho Hon Sang and SP Setia president and chief executive officer Datuk Khor Chap Jen.

Haniza assured that the Selangor government is committed to ensuring low income earners or Bottom 40 percentile (B40) households have easier access to affordable homes.

At the same time, the state government, acknowledged REHDA members’ burden of rising development costs, due to compliance costs and increasing utility charges.

To a question on structural issue of property overhang and mismatch between market supply and demand in affordable homes and office space, Haniza replied the state government is formulating a database to provide relevant information on housing supply and demand.

“We believe that accurate and timely data would help address the issue especially to effectively deliver affordable housing to targeted groups such as the B40 and M40,” she said.

Since it was introduced in January 2014, the state government’s Rumah Selangorku initiative has encompassed 54 projects as at July 2018, offering 28,639 affordable homes to eligible purchasers. These houses are priced from RM42,000 to RM250,000 per unit.

Haniza, who is also Lembah Jaya assemblyman, reiterated the state government continues to be deeply vested in getting housing policies right and has refined the Rumah Selangorku 2.0 housing scheme.

By 2035, she said the Selangor Structural Plan foresee the state requiring 600,000 more houses for new demand as a result of population growth. This translates to an average of additional 40,000 houses per year until 2035.

Source: NST