Archive for month: January, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian housing affordability has worsened to 3.6 times in 2014, according to Rahim & Co Chartered Surveyors executive chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman, in presenting the Rahim & Co Research — Property Market Review 2014/2015 yesterday.

“Housing affordability worsened to 3.6 times in 2014 compared with 3.4 times in 2009. This is based on average terraced house price to average annual household income,” he said. “This essentially means that an average terraced house would cost an average household or family in Malaysia, 3.6 times its annual gross income.

“However, I believe 3.6 times is reasonable and the government should maintain it at this figure. Moreover, the government has a vision to make Malaysia a high-income nation by 2020, and I’m confident we will be able to reach it despite the current economic condition vis-a-vis the lowering of oil prices and lowering of the [value of the] ringgit.”

The data showed that the least affordable terraced house in Malaysia for 2014 was recorded for Sabah at 6.2 times, followed by Pulau Pinang (5.9 times), Kuala Lumpur (5.6 times) and Sarawak (4.4 times). Read more →

KUALA LUMPUR: Some property developers had recently observed that the weaker ringgit could lure foreign investors to Malaysian properties but MKH Bhd ( Financial Dashboard) managing director Tan Sri Eddy Chen does not seem to think so as he opines that Malaysia is just not on their radar.

“Foreigners are very savvy investors and to them Malaysia is not a target,” Chen told the floor at the 17th Malaysia Strategic Outlook Conference today.

Chen, who was one of the speakers invited to share his views on the country’s property outlook this year, said this was evidenced from how local property prices had remained cheap relative to more developed markets like Hong Kong in the past 20 years. Read more →

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 23): Flood victims can withdraw their Employee Provident Fund (EPF) savings from Account 2 to purchase or rebuild their homes, said EPF in a statement.

Those who have never made the withdrawals for housing and wish to rebuild their homes destroyed by the floods, can also do so by applying with the fund, it said.

The EPF further explained that members can also withdraw to purchase or build a second house, provided the first house has been sold, or disposal of ownership of property has taken place.

According to the fund, the disposal of ownership also refers to the loss of ownership of the first house owned through previous EPF withdrawal, due to several conditions, including the destruction of the house caused by natural disaster (such as flooding, earthquake and landslide), fire, abandoned housing project or cancellation of purchase.

“To be eligible for the withdrawal to build a second home, members are required to obtain a confirmation from the local City Council, Municipal Council or head of village, that their houses, previously purchased/built under the EPF Housing Withdrawals scheme, have been destroyed in the recent flooding,” EFP added.

The EPF will assess the property and verify the amount needed to purchase/rebuild the house, and check the balance of savings that members have in their Account 2. The eligibility for withdrawal is subject to other terms and conditions, it said.

The announcement came after more than 10,000 people in the East Coast were hit by the recent flood. While the government has announced a RM500 million flood relief fund, it estimated the rebuilding efforts to cost billions or more.