Rehda to work with government to make housing more affordable

The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) will work closely with the government to make housing more affordable.

Rehda deputy president, Datuk Soam Heng Choon, said actually, there were many aspects why the housing was not affordable.

"Together we will try to tackle this issue. For a start, the association is encouraging property developers to shift to the industrialised building system (IBS)," he said.

Soam said this after the signing of a memorandum of collaboration between the association and CIDB Malaysia to promote low-carbon and sustainable practices in the housing and construction industry.

IBS is a special construction technique where components are manufactured in a controlled environment, either at the site or off-site.

He said this policy could work amid the uncertainty in the economy.

"That, however, depends on where the areas we're going to develop the housing projects... affordability in the KL area maybe around RM500,000, while in small town RM300,000," he said, adding that for 2016, the property

prices were not expected to increase.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government has agreed to review the National Housing Policy, especially related to property prices, which was proposed be decided by the government and not just to market forces.

He said the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry could conduct prudent price control by taking into account certain elements such as location and type of house.