Better end-financing scheme for Pr1ma house buyers

KUALA LUMPUR: The 2017 Budget yesterday introduced a new end-financing scheme for the 1Malaysia People’s Housing programme which provides for easier and more accessible financing for buyers.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said through the scheme, financing will be easier and more accessible to buyers with a total loan of 90 to 100 percent while loan rejection rate will be reduced drastically.

“For instance, an applicant with a monthly income of RM3,000 will only be eligible for a loan of more than RM187,000. Through this special financing scheme, the applicant can get a loan of more than RM295,000,” he said when tabling the 2017 Budget at Dewan Rakyat, here yesterday.

Najib who is also the Finance Minister said the application process for this scheme would be implemented from January 1, 2017.

The scheme is a collaboration between the government, Bank Negara Malaysia, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and four local banks, namely Maybank, CIMB, RHB and AMBANK.

In addition, Najib also announced that stamp duty exemption would be increased to 100 percent on instruments of transfer and housing loan instruments, to help reduce the cost of first-home ownership, compared to 50 percent at present.

However, he said, this exemption is limited to houses with the value of up to RM300,000 for first home ownership only, between Jan 1, 2017 and Dec 31, 2018.

He said PR1MA has been well-received with more than 12,000 units worth RM3.3 billion booked while 85,000 units are at various stages of approval.

Najib said to enhance first-home buyers’ affordability, the government will introduce several concepts.

“Through NBOS, we will provide vacant land at strategic locations for Government Linked Companies and Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia (PRIMA) to build more than 30,000 houses with prices ranging from RM150,000 to RM300,000 which is lower than the market price of between RM250,000 and RM400,000,” he said.

The government would also build around 10,000 houses in urban areas for rental to eligible youth with permanent jobs, including young graduates entering the labour market.

“They may rent up to a maximum of five years at a lower rate than market price. Another initiative is to build 5,000 units of People’s Friendly Home (PMR) with the government subsidising up to RM20,000 per unit. For this purpose, RM200 million will be allocated to Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB),” he said. — Bernama