HBA secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said the guarantee scheme would help these people obtain housing loans from banks and realise their dreams of owning their own homes.

“Daily wage earners without fixed incomes like hawkers and traders may have money in fixed deposit accounts even though they may not have documentary proof of income,” he told FMT.

Chang added that those hoping to buy their first house would also react positively to the initiative.

Finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, who presented the 2022 Budget, said the government had received many complaints from gig workers (those with freelance or part-time jobs), small business owners and farmers that they found it difficult to obtain housing loans without proof of stable income but were still being capable of servicing the loans.

Chang said the scheme could also stimulate the property market and hoped it would not be a one-off initiative because of the rising trend in freelance and part-time employment.

However, the scheme should be limited to property that had already been completed instead of those still under construction, he suggested.

Melaka-based developer Anthony Adam Cho said the initiative would help those without a credit rating history to buy a home but might not go a long way towards easing the property glut.

Instead, he proposed a national housing board be established to purchase affordable properties and rent them out to Malaysians.