‘Bring back home ownership campaign’

THE Federal Government is being urged to address several issues affecting the housing and construction industries of the country in Budget 2024.

Chairman of Johor Real Estate Housing Developers Association (Rehda), Wong Boon Lang, has suggested the reintroduction of the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) and the waiver of stamp duty for housebuyers.

Wong emphasized that the housing industry plays a vital role in the country’s economy and is linked to over 240 downstream activities.

“If the housing industry comes to a halt, it will have consequences that affect the economy,” he warned.

Kong proposes the Federal Government offer soft loans to construction-related companies.

Koh Moo Hing, the general manager of Gunung Impian Development Sdn Bhd, expressed his hope that Budget 2024 will include measures to boost homeownership.

“Homeownership rates in the country are still low,” he stated, attributing it to factors such as housing product mismatches, affordability, and eligibility issues.

“We are facing a Catch-22 situation where we have to build low-cost and Bumiputra units as project requirements and cross-subsidize them,” Koh added.

He cited instances where potential buyers exceeded the income bracket for low and medium-cost housing but couldn’t afford houses above RM500,000.

Johor Master Builders Association president, Kong Weng Keong, highlighted that the construction industry is still recovering from a three-year slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Budget 2024, Kong urged the Federal Government to consider offering soft loans to construction-related companies.

He also called for the government’s attention to the significant hike in prices of building materials, which have risen between 15% and 25% compared to pre-pandemic times.

“The construction industry is experiencing a shortage of skilled workers as about 50% of experienced Indonesians who were working in Malaysia left during the pandemic to work on infrastructure projects in their home country,” Kong explained.

“Currently, we are relying on Bangladeshi workers, and delays in completing projects are inevitable due to the labor shortage,” he added.