Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia (PR1MA) is targeting 250,000 units of affordable houses to be approved by its board of directors by year-end.

Chief Executive Officer Datuk Abdul Mutalib Alias said to date the board has approved 153,000 units in 110 locations nationwide except for Labuan.

"We have already received a total of 1,016,000 applicants so far for the PR1MA houses, and the demand is overwhelming," he told Bernama at the balloting for the PR1MA@Cyberjaya 1 project here today.

The session was officiated by Treasury Secretary-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who is also a board member of PR1MA.

PR1MA homes are targeted to middle-income Malaysians with an average monthly household income of RM2,500 to RM10,000, who are over 21 years old and do not own more than one property for individual or family.

Abdul Mutalib denied that PR1MA houses, which are priced between RM100,000 to RM400,000, are getting too costly for the people.

"So far our house prices have not exceeded RM400,000, and for most projects the average price ranges between RM250,000 to RM300,000 a unit, with very few priced at more than RM350,000," he said.

He said although second-time buyers are allowed to apply for PR1MA homes alongside first-time buyers, weightage is given to the first-timers.

This gives an opportunity for those who already own a house located far from their workplace before PR1MA was established to own one at an ideal location, he said.

However, he said, the ratio allotted to first-time house buyers compared to second house buyers could range from 9:1 to 7:3 depending on location, adding 90 per cent of applicants still do not own a house.

On today's balloting, 16 applicants vied for each of the 325 apartments. Successful applicants may choose their unit in the third week of August.

Abdul Mutalib said for 2015, a total of 6,240 units in eight projects will be balloted.

He said delayed feeds of today's balloting are being posted on the group's Facebook account, with the applicants notified earlier by e-mail that they could follow the progress through the feeds.

This is an innovation that could cut a lot of turnaround time for the balloting process, he added.