KUALA LUMPUR: Juwai IQI hopes that the government will prioritise new housing development and improve the living conditions in affordable housing areas in the upcoming Budget 2025.
Co-founder and group chief executive officer (CEO), Kashif Ansari said the quality of life improvements could include installing new street lights, building sports parks, and renovating ageing homes.
"We propose that the government help reduce the costs that have made housing so expensive. For example, developers who provide quality, affordable housing could receive subsidies for construction materials.
"These costs are rising by three to four per cent per year, which is high, although lower than during the peak of the pandemic," he said in a statement today.
Financing is also a major barrier to new affordable housing projects, said Kashif, adding that if developers cannot secure financing at a sustainable rate, new housing projects should not proceed.
He further suggested that the government or banks could offer discounted construction financing, specifically for affordable housing projects to enable more families to secure homes.
Kashif also proposed that the industry and the government collaborate to form buying consortia to reduce material costs through economies of scale.
"This would involve pooling demand across multiple developers to purchase materials in larger quantities. This would enable them to negotiate better prices.
"In other markets, this approach has reduced material costs by up to 30 per cent," he highlighted.
Kashif said Malaysia could leverage its advanced manufacturing sector to build housing, and this includes the use of industrial construction techniques to build housing in factories and then assemble it on site.
This could reduce both construction time and costs, making housing more affordable and quickly available, he said, while emphasising that affordable housing must not only be cost-effective but also liveable, well-built, and sustainable.
As urbanisation drives more people into cities, Kashif expects the growing demand for affordable housing to rise.
He noted that in the first quarter of this year, property transactions rose 17.2 per cent, with buyers spending RM25.25 billion on homes, marking a 21 per cent increase compared to last year.
However, Kashif said that rising land and home prices, and increasing construction and financing costs, continue to pose significant challenges to providing affordable housing.