No tightening policy for first time buyers, says Zeti

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) today clarified that there is no tightening policy for first time buyers of affordable homes.

 "The tightening requirement is for the third purchase of residential properties to avoid the risk of over-leveraging and an over-indebted situation in the country," Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said.

She told the media this at the release of the Labuan Financial Services Authority (FSA) Annual Report 2014, here on Tuesday.

"All borrowers need to pass the affordability assessment. We are doing this to guide banks to avoid the risk of over-leveraging and an over-indebted situation," she said.

Zeti was responding to a question as to whether BNM's tightening policy on housing loans approval was too strict and the high rejection of applications was causing many developers to delay property launches.

Recently, Johor State Secretary Datuk Ismail Karim was among those quoted by the media as saying that the state government had received complaints from first time house buyers who are financially qualified but had their loans rejected by banks.

Meanwhile, Zeti said the country is still on a steady growth path with the gross domestic product (GDP) for the year expected to be on average, 5%.- Bernama