KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will focus on the rent-to-own (RTO) concept in the housing market for now and later move towards build-then-sell (BTS) by 2023, said Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.
“To help the people own their homes, we will focus more on RTO. The BTS concept was declared in 2013 but, looking at the current situation, it’s not time yet for us to do BTS. The better way now is to RTO and buy (the house),” she told a press conference after launching the National Housing Policy 2018-2025 (DRN) here today.
She said RTO schemes are already in Selangor and Penang where, in the sixth year, renters can own their houses depending on their financial capabilities.
“BTS not yet. We will start to look at the process. In 2013, there were six (BTS) projects but they were not viable. Although we put it in our policy (DRN), as a continuity from the last policy, we need more time to further study to make it happen,” explained Zuraida.
Depending on its findings, she said, by 2023, it should come up with a BTS model.
Under DRN, the government plans to hit 90% BTS by 2020 and 100% BTS by 2023.
