The 1Malaysia People’s Housing (PR1MA) Corporation has introduced its “Rent-to-Own’ (RTO) scheme, a solution for Pr1ma home-buyers who are not eligible for housing loans.
CEO Datuk Abdul Muttalib Alias said RTO allows potential home-buyers with poor credit ratings to lease the house for up to 10 years.
This is to help the buyers to build up the deposit equity needed for them to be eligible for a bank loan, he said.
“There are two options for applicants of the RTO scheme. There is the Basic RTO and the Zero RTO. Successful balloted applicants of PR1MA homes whose loan applications were rejected by banks will be provided these two options,” explained Abdul Mutalib in a media briefing on Friday.
Citing an example, Abdul Mutalib said in one of Pr1ma projects in Johor, 20% of applicants who won the ballot were unable to secure bank loans.
“They were happy when their names were balloted, but when their loan applications were rejected, some of them came to us and pleaded with tears. We did not have this RTO scheme back then,” he said adding the incident actually triggered Pr1ma to come up with a remedy for all applicant to own a house.
He said RTO was part of the ‘Homebuyer Assistance Programme’. The other two are the PR1MA Care insurance programme and end-financing packages from six participating banks.
Meanwhile, Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia (PR1MA) and Maybank Bhd signed an agreement for a RM3 billion bridging loan facility to partly finance the development works of PR1MA Homes housing projects, witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak.
PR1MA was represented by Abdul Mutalib while Maybank was represented by its Group Head, Global Banking, Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir.
Under the agreement, Maybank will provide comprehensive financial facilities for the construction of PR1MA Homes for the next five years.
“We are confident this financial facility provided by Maybank will allow us carry out the development work of PR1MA home projects as planned, within the given timeframe.”
“We are committed to build PR1MA Homes nationwide in an effort to ensure more middle income earners in Malaysia will be able to afford to own a house,” Abdul Mutalib said.
To-date, 153,807 Pr1ma homes have been approved for construction of which 41,587 units are under construction while 112,000 others are still in planning stages.
By end of the year, 26 projects comprising of 60,000 homes will be balloted, said Abdul Mutalib.
As at end of July 2015, more than 1.02 million registrants interested in owning a PR1MA Home have registered under the National Registration System.
*Bernama and The Malaysian Reserve