Ernest Cheong said under the current economic situation, most Malaysians could not afford a house that is priced more than RM100,000.
He referred to figures from the Employees Provident Fund that 90% of Malaysians earn RM5,000 and below every month.
“With that salary, one would be able to only pay RM500 monthly for a housing loan of RM100,000.”
He said a reasonable price for homes in the “affordable” category is RM100,000 and not RM250,000.
He said, the definition of affordable homes changes with the rising costs of living, while at the same time income has remained stagnant.
To overcome the problem of unsold houses, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin recently said the government would ask banks to relax home loan conditions.
Cheong admits that any move to lower the price of affordable houses to RM100,000 would not sit well with developers.
Meanwhile, former president of the Malaysia Institute of Estate Agents Siva Shanker said bad location was the reason for unsold houses.
He said many affordable houses were built far from town with no facilities and transportation.
“Affordable houses are always targeted for the B40 group. So if the houses are built not in a strategic area, it will be harder for them to go to work.
“I know people can’t be too choosy when it comes to affordable houses but the government must take some of their requirements into consideration.”
He said developers should build “the right kind of property in the right kind of location”.
He said there should also be a proper study on the sectors that are facing the problem of unsold units.