Wong Hon Wai Asked About The RTB Projects From The Government

 The Edge Markets / March 08, 2022

50% of PR1MA homebuyers are young people aged 25 to 35, says minister

KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): As many as 50% or 17,543 buyers of 1Malaysia Housing Programme (PR1MA) projects nationwide were young people, aged 25 to 35, as of December last year.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican said that last year, 34% or 1,904 PR1MA homebuyers were from this group.

“This proves that the PR1MA homes are a favourite among young people and they can afford it,” he said during the minister's question time in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (March 8).

He said this in his reply to a question from Datuk Mohd Fasiah Mohd Fakeh (Bersatu-Sabak Bernam) who wanted the housing and local government minister to state to what extent the ministry had succeeded in providing affordable housing projects, especially for young people aged 25 to 35, and their response to the PR1MA housing projects nationwide.

The minister said PR1MA will also introduce the Youth Home Ownership initiative to increase PR1MA homeownership among young people from 50.3% to 70% by the end of 2022.

Reezal said his ministry is planning to provide Youth Transit Housing (RTB) in several locations in the Klang Valley following high house prices and rental rates in the area to help young people own a home.

“A total of two RTB projects have been proposed in Mukim Batu, Kuala Lumpur and one project in Rawang, Selangor. The Mukim Batu RTB project in Kuala Lumpur will develop a total of 1,400 units and for the Rawang RTB, Selangor, a total of 3,000 units will be built.

“The Ministry of Housing and Local Government’s (KPKT) big agenda of housing will focus on the ‘5K’ concepts, namely availability, affordability, financing facilities, quality and livability housing units. I believe this is also the desire of the young generation in Malaysia as a whole,” he said.

Answering Mohd Fasiah's supplementary question about the proposed establishment of a national housing fund and to what extent the PR1MA housing developers can provide infrastructure such as Internet technology and parking facilities, Reezal said all facilities are taken into account according to the "5K" concepts.

“Regarding the proposed national housing fund, this is a matter that I am looking into as well as the panel of experts established under the KPKT. We will formulate a new proposal that can adopt [this proposal] in order to be convincing and subsequently approved by Bank Negara Malaysia and the Ministry of Finance.

"The affordable housing units under PR1MA are equipped with fibre-to-the-unit and all the units have internet access infrastructure. We do not want to see the houses for B40 (the bottom 40% income group) have a low livability level,” he said.

In his reply to a question from Wong Hon Wai (Pakatan Harapan-Bukit Bendera) about the allocation from the government to implement the RTB and its expansion to Penang and Johor Baru this year, Reezal said there are plans in place to expand the initiative.

“Currently, as mentioned, the RTB is in the Klang Valley, but it has also started to be held in other states, in Johor for example. We look at the overall agenda of providing this housing initiative,” he said.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/50-pr1ma-homebuyers-are-young-people-aged-25-35-says-minister