To Purchase or to Rent a Home in Malaysia? A Case Study in Selangor

The modern and highly globalized societies have witnessed a rapid growth of various industries. An example is the construction industry in Malaysia. Transnational properties have proliferated significantly in line with globalization (Sanghoon, Huynh & Rowe, 2013) and the marked increase in population. Malaysia, as a developing country, had a population of 30,995.7 million in 2015. As for the states in Malaysia, Selangor had the highest population with 6,140.1 million people, followed by Sabah, 3736.2 million; Johor, 3547.7 million; Perak, 2,457.8 million and Sarawak 2,707.6 million. The increase in population led to a rise in demand for basic needs such as food, water and shelter. Asiah (1999) stressed that housing is a basic need for every citizen and this is acknowledged by the Malaysian government. Thus, it is evident that an increase in a country's population results in a significant rise in the demand and supply of residential properties. According to Mahmood and Zakaria (2007), the property sector has played a significant role in the economic development of Malaysia. Ong (2013) pointed out that a rapid increase in demand and supply of residential properties would lead to an escalation in the value of the properties. This phenomenon is also known as the 'housing bubble', where a surge in demand and supply of houses lead to continuous increase in property prices over a period of time. In terms of the cost of borrowing, prior to the implementation of the Base Rate (BR), cost of obtaining housing loans from local financial institutions was 6.68% Base Lending Rate (BLR) rate minus 2.4% (bank rate) (Chin, 2014). In March 2014, 2 To Purchase or to Rent a Home in Malaysia? A Case Study in Selangor the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia) (BNM) announced that the BLR, which is determined by BNM, would be replaced by Base Rate (BR), effective January 2015. The BR is determined by the financial institutions' benchmark cost of funds (Chai, 2015). As stated in the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020), the Government's intention is to increase affordable housing to the poor, low and middle income households in urban and rural areas. In addition, financing schemes such as My First Home Scheme, Youth Housing Scheme (YHS) and MyHome are extended to prospective home buyers and developers. My First Home Scheme was announced by the government in budget year 2011 and is targeted at assisting young adults own a house. Under this scheme, home buyers are able obtain 100% financing from financial institutions. Thus, the down payment of 10% is waived. Meanwhile, the Youth Housing Scheme (YHS), which was announced in the budget year 2015, allows married house buyers within the age group 25 to 40 years with monthly income of not more than RM10,000 to purchase their first residential property. Under this scheme, a 50% exemption of stamp duty on the transfer and loan agreements is provided as well as RM200 per monthly assistance is given for a period of 2 years from the date of first disbursement of loan to the developer to subsidize repayment installments. In the case of the My Home program, the government offers incentive up to RM30,000 per unit. In 2014, an allocation of RM300 million for building 10,000 units of affordable homes around the country was provided. Together with the My Deposit program newly launched in April 2016, all these initiatives constitute the various incentives made available by the Government to increase ownership of residential property, the target being at least one house per household. Despite the several incentives from government and sales offers from developers, most households still deliberate when it comes to deciding whether to purchase or rent a house for their living. This issue led to a research gap to be investigated though this exploratory study by exploring the research.

a. From your point of view, has the intention of state government of Selangor to increase affordable housing to the poor, low and middle income households in urban and rural areas can be achieved? (15 marks)

b. Are there any linkage issues, when government launching My Home program which has the same intention like the state government of Selangor? (10 marks)

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