Speaking to FMT, HBA secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said the best way to do this was to implement the system of build-then-sell 10:90 (BTS 10:90), which it had proposed to the previous administration for several years.
Under the BTS 10:90 system, house buyers only pay the initial downpayment of 10% when booking a house and make no further payments until vacant possession of the property is delivered to them.
“Aside from being an eyesore, abandoned projects cause hardship to house buyers who need to continue with their monthly bank instalments for housing loans.
“The BTS 10:90 is a far safer mode of home delivery system and the new federal government should implement it without further delay.
“Compel the housing industry to adopt the system as we believe it will drastically, if not totally, eliminate cases of housing projects being abandoned,” he said.
Last November, then-urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister Noh Omar revealed that 253 abandoned private housing projects had been registered in Peninsular Malaysia since 2009.
This, he said, involved 64,290 residential units, of which 43,537 units had been sold.
Chang said HBA was hopeful and excited about the future, as PH’s election manifesto contained many promises which would benefit the public and house buyers.
He said these included pledges to build one million affordable homes across two terms, tax incentives for companies which focused on affordable housing, widening rent-to-own schemes and the setting up of a National Affordable Housing Council, chaired by the prime minister, to bring together various agencies and coordinate matters related to affordable housing.
“HBA also fully supports any measures to reform the 1Malaysia People’s Housing Scheme (PR1MA) as it has deviated from its original and noble aspirations to provide affordable housing.”
He said under PR1MA’s present partnership with private developers, only 50% of the allocated land area was reserved for affordable homes. The balance was reserved for commercial and lifestyle properties.
Reforming PR1MA, he said, would eliminate exploitation by crony developers at the expense of the government and the people.
Last August, it was revealed in the Dewan Rakyat that the Barisan Nasional federal government only completed 8,475 units of PR1MA homes out of the 500,000 promised since 2013.