Rehda wants end-financing rules eased

Rehda president Datuk Seri FD Iskandar (pic) said many genuine housebuyers had problems coming up with their downpayment when financial institutions only offered financing of up to 80%.. (Real Estate and Housing Developers

PETALING JAYA: Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) has called for easing in the end-financing regulations for property purchases in Malaysia.

Rehda president Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor said this was necessary to help first-time buyers own affordable homes.

To recap, problems on the failure of securing financing for property purchases had been making headlines in recent times.

Rehda’s Property Industry Survey for the first half of 2016 revealed that end financing and loan rejection remained a major problem for nearly 70% of the respondents and it had spread to affect almost all price ranges.

Property prices ranging from RM250,001 to RM500,000 and RM700,000 to RM1mil faced the highest loan rejections, at 24% and 27% respectively.

Fateh opined that in order to encourage developers build more affordable units, the cost of doing business incurred by the property developers should be lowered.

“The cost of doing business primarily includes cost of compliance, which is incurred when developers surrender part of the land for construction of social and community facilities and for provision of open spaces, among others.

“Another dominant component is the contribution cost which includes land premium and infrastructure development costs,” he said after Glomac Bhd’s AGM yesterday. Fateh Iskandar is also group managing director and CEO of Glomac.

Referring to the latest proposal from Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar to allow developers to also act as moneylenders, Fateh Iskandar said it was preliminary to comment prior to the Cabinet’s decision, but stressed that developers did not have the capacity for 100% financing.

“If the Cabinet’s mechanism is suitable, it could help first-time home buyers finance their purchases.”

Fateh Iskandar expects the property market to be challenging going forward, but said that attractive incentives proposed in the upcoming Budget 2017 could improve market sentiment.

On the possibility of Rehda asking the state governments to release more land at cheaper premiums, Fateh Iskandar said the issue had been raised hitherto by Rehda.

“If we are serious in helping more Malaysians to own homes, the state governments should not fully monetise the land for construction and instead provide part of the land at cheaper cost to developers.”

On the recent calls for the extension of the loan repayment tenure, Fateh Iskandar echoed Bank Negara’s stance on retaining the current 35 years of maximum housing loan period.

“We think 35 years is palatable. Lengthening the period would only be a strain on the borrower,” he said, adding that models utilised in other countries such as Australia in financing house loans could also be emulated.

When asked on his opinion about whether removing the bumiputra quota could help to lower property prices, he declined to comment further although he said that cross-subsidisations are already there, with or without the quota for bumiputra. He added that the provisions reserved for the group in the constitution should be respected but at the same time, those who need help in purchasing their own homes must be aided regardless of their racial identity.

Meanwhile, Glomac announced in a press release that its net profit in the first quarter of FY2017 jumped 306% to RM85.5mil, surpassing the amount registered in the full financial year 2016. The company has also key development projects ongoing, namely in Glomac Centro, Saujana KL International Airport, Reflection Residences and Lakeside Residences. It is preparing new launches of RM1bil this year, where seven out of the eight new projects are in landed residential and affordable townships.