Pua’s remark came just hours after PPBM Supreme Council member A Kadir Jasin suggested that he wasn’t fully convinced by the scheme.
“FundMyHome is not a monopoly,” the finance minister’s political secretary said at a forum on Budget 2019 organised by AmBank here.
The Securities Commission (SC), he said, will regulate the initiative as more exchange platforms will come in.
Under the FundMyHome scheme, buyers pay 20% of the property price which will then be placed in a trust account to pay off the 5% annual investment return to the participating institutions for a five-year period.
The balance of 80% will be contributed by participating banks. There is no monthly repayment for the first five years, after which buyers either sell the home, buy out the remaining portion of the property not owned by them at market price, or refinance the home.
Property experts are sceptical of the scheme, and have questioned if it would benefit buyers.
Earlier today, Kadir suggested he was not fully convinced about the new home ownership scheme but said he was placing his trust in the “clever people” who are working with Lim and the relevant agencies.
Pua, who is the Damansara MP, said the main aspect of the scheme is to protect both house buyers and investors.
“So we expect the rules to be finalised by the first quarter next year after which the first exchange can take place.”
But he admitted that there were a lot of issues to consider, like ensuring the initiative does not lead to a property bubble, which will see the prices of homes balloon.
“Then you have another crisis.”
Speaking to reporters, Pua said the reason behind the speedy launch of the FundMyHome scheme, operated by EdgeProp Sdn Bhd, was because the company was the one that had come up with the idea.
He said the launch was to publicise the scheme which had yet to be used by other countries.
“They (EdgeProp) were the ones who came up with the idea. Let’s not deny it. They came up with the innovation and they launched it because they wanted to publicise the mechanism.”
He reiterated that the peer-to-peer (P2P) housing scheme is a platform that any parties are welcomed to set up as long as they comply with SC guidelines.
Pua pointed out that the platform would transform the entire landscape of Malaysia if it worked.
“It’s a very innovative idea. Does it work? Is it 100% workable? I think it’s 95% workable as there’s still 5% risk there.
“So should we be conservative or do we try and do a pilot project? We get the SC to come up with the guidelines, protect the buyers, protect the investors and see how it goes,” he said.
Pua was explaining how Budget 2019 was crafted with creativity and innovations in mind, where ideas shouldn’t come from the Finance Ministry alone.
Meanwhile, Pua also commented on Petronas, saying that not only will it be able to afford the RM30 billion special dividends next year but it will have more than enough in its cash reserves to do so.