Implement price controls for housing, Putrajaya urged

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government has urged Putrajaya to implement price controls for housing following a Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) report which deemed the housing market as “seriously unaffordable.”
State Housing Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh said the report was a shock and called for Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan to shoulder the responsibility.
He said the federal government should review housing prices and make affordable housing a priority issue to address.
“The federal government must take immediate steps to overcome this,” he told a press conference today.
The KRI report found the median house price was at 4.4 times the median annual household income which put the situation as “seriously unaffordable.” An affordable market is one where the median house price is 3.0 times the median household income.
Jagdeep also urged federal housing agencies in Penang, JKP Sdn Bhd and PERDA, to review their housing prices to be in line with the state’s affordable housing price limits.
He also called for housing to be provided under the 1Malaysia People’s Housing Project (PR1MA) scheme in Penang.
“There will be no obstacles in approving these projects if all planning and technical requirements are met,” he said.
Jagdeep defended the state administration’s efforts in providing housing, pointing out 12,741 low-cost units and 7,608 low-medium cost units have been built since 2008.
He said a further 22,512 affordable housing units will be built by the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) over the next five to 10 years.