Yes, PR1MA said that is has received 1,016,000 number of applications thus far for the supply of affordable homes. It’s a number which is hard to believe because if the number is true, we are looking at demands which far exceeds whatever supply there are in Malaysia. Yes, not even the 100,000 new homes target per year is able to satisfy this demand in 10 years and by then, the demand would have exceeded supply many times over again. As per reported in local English daily, the total units of affordable houses to be approved by PR1MA’s board of directors by the end of 2015 would be 250,000 units. This is of course nowhere near the total number of applications. Currently, a total of 153,000 units have been approved in 110 locations nationwide except for Labuan.
Just like all the other affordable homes projects from the state level, all these units are targeted at middle-income Malaysians who has been complaining about their inability to buy a home due to the high prices currently. The prices for all these are priced at a maximum of RM400,000 and as per PR1MA, there are actually very few units priced above RM350,000. The weightage for first-time buyer is much higher compared to those buying a second property. For example, the ratio allotted could range from 9:1 to 7:3 depending on location and said that out of the 1,016,000 applicants, 90% were first-time buyers.
Despite all these encouragement news about more units being made available, the probability to get a unit seems very small. In a recent balloting of 325 apartments, every unit received 16 applicants. Probability is thus only 6 percent. Out of 100 applicants, only 6 would eventually get a unit. The rest would have to wait for the next ‘probability.’ Within 2015, despite the approved 113,000 currently, only a total of 6,240 units in right projects would be balloted.
Are you one of the applicants? Would love to hear some real life accounts about what the applicants really face when applying for these programmes. Not just PR1MA but all the other programmes as well. It would be great if there are full transparency about which of these programmes, whether by federal or state governments which are doing very well. As for RM400,000 or lower, there are still many secondary choices. For those who could not afford to wait, do browse online and pick one. Please use ‘necessity’ as a primary consideration and not the location or the area as your main consideration. Happy balloting to those who are in the queue.
written on 11 July 2015
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