1.7 million households yet to own a house

A total of 1.7 million households in Malaysia have yet to own a house, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan told the Dewan Rakyat Thursday.

As part of an effort to help them own a house, he said, the government planned to build one million houses in the next five years, adding that the housing projects would be carried out by the ministry, 1Malaysia People's

Housing Corporation (PR1MA), Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB) and private developers.

He said as of September this year, PR1MA had approved 30 housing projects, involving construction of 44,227 units of affordable homes in Sabah, Johor, Perak, Pahang, Sarawak, Penang and Selangor.

"The number of affordable homes built by SPNB in 2011 until September this year was 3,614 units nationwide," he said in response to a question by Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (BN-Pengerang).