IPOH: The Perak government has asked the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) to study the causes of homes left unsold and propose strategies to address the issue.
State housing and local government committee chairman Sandrea Ng said the study would provide details to help formulate such strategies.
"We want to establish the cause of the problem so that we do not repeat the same issues in future planning and approvals, particularly in areas where there may already be an oversupply of houses," she told reporters after launching the Malaysia Property Expo at a mall here on Thursday (Oct 15).
Ng said the findings would also help the state identify ways to match available housing units with prospective buyers, especially when people were still struggling to own homes.
She said it was wasteful to have houses left unsold when many have yet to own a home.
"As of June 30, the figure cited was 4,075 unsold residential units involving different types of properties.
"More than 1,000 of these are single-storey and double-storey terrace houses, with some in large-scale developments that could comprise hundreds of units launched at one time," she added.
Ng explained that a property was classified as unsold after six months of its launch.
"However, this does not necessarily indicate a lack of demand, as large developments could take time to complete transactions.
"Nevertheless, we will examine the projects involved in greater detail to determine whether there are any trends that require our attention, or if certain districts or locations are facing such issues.
"The state will also take any identified oversupply into account when assessing future development applications in the affected areas.
"We will be stricter in approving new projects if there is already oversupply in an area," she said.
On the recent Budget 2027 announcement on stamp duty exemptions for first-time homebuyers, Ng said this could provide an added incentive for property transactions and help address some of the factors contributing to unsold residential units.
Perak Rehda chairman Loh Ban Ho said in his speech that helping people buy affordable homes must go hand in hand with making houses affordable to build.
He said if construction costs, compliance fees and approval delays continue to rise, developers would face greater difficulty delivering homes at affordable prices.
"We hope the Federal and state governments will work with the industry to reduce unnecessary costs, streamline approval procedures and improve coordination among local authorities and utility companies.
"Our objective is simple: make it easier to build affordable homes, and easier for people to own them," he said.
He said the 4,075 unsold completed units in Perak are mostly in the Manjung, Hilir Perak and Kinta districts.
