KUALA LUMPUR: A substantial allocation should be made for the Madani Deposit Scheme to help more Malaysians achieve homeownership.
Glomac Bhd group managing director and chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor (FD Iskandar), expressed his hope for a generous funding of the scheme to assist first-time buyers.
He highlighted that although home purchases fell to 40,000 units during the COVID-19 pandemic, the property market has since recovered, with demand now reaching around 80,000 units.
Concurrently, he noted that the banks need to support homebuyers by offering a better margin, considering buyers's potential to gain salary increments in the future.
"Give a substantial amount, and I believe that this will help Malaysians to own properties, and I would like to see banks assist first-time homebuyers or buyers of property below a certain amount.
"Banks must see the potential. They have to think ahead that the buyer's current RM3,500 salary will one day reach up to RM7,000.
"Usually the first-time homebuyers are below 35 years old, and they can loan until 65 years old. There's no issue. Of course, they have to do their risk assessments, but please offer a better margin," he told Business Times in an interview.
FD Iskandar also commented on the much anticipated reintroduction of the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC), saying that while the stamp duty must be exempted, the threshold must consider the location as well.
He stated that the government should revise the threshold from RM500,000 to RM1 million until December next year.
"The benefit of HOC is the stamp duty for properties valued below RM500,000. However, in Shah Alam, for example, it is difficult to find a house below the amount. The stamp exemption needs to be up to RM1 million," he said.
On affordable housing, FD Iskandar said the government needs to expedite the provision of affordable housing while also ensuring no monopoly in the prices of building materials. He also said this kind of project needs to factor in compliance and development costs, which have increased over the years.
He said land premiums and taxes have expanded double-digitally in recent years, while developers also have to incur compliance costs, including preparing facilities such as utilities and schools.
"The reduced cost of doing business is not only material cost but also compliance and development cost," he said.