Version: BM
With just three months left until 2025, it’s clear that Malaysia is ready for a transformative shift in home and property development.
For this, Juwai IQI Co-founder and CEO, Kashif Ansari, urges the government to focus on new housing projects that enhance living conditions in affordable housing sectors in the upcoming Budget 2025.
“We propose that the government help reduce the costs that have made housing so expensive. For example, developers who provide quality, affordable housing could receive subsidies for construction materials”, he said in a statement on Thursday.
These costs are rising by 3% to 4% per year, which is high, although lower than during the peak of the pandemic.”
Kashif Ansari
Kashif pointed out that securing financing is a significant obstacle for new affordable housing initiatives. He emphasised that if developers can’t get funding at reasonable rates, they shouldn’t move forward with new housing developments.
He also recommended that the government or banks should consider offering lower-cost construction loans specifically for affordable housing to help more families find homes.
Kashif further advocated for a partnership between the industry and the government to establish purchasing consortia, to reduce material costs through economies of scale.
“This would involve pooling demand across multiple developers to purchase materials in larger quantities, which simultaneously enable them to negotiate better prices,” explained Kashif.
In other markets, this approach has reduced material costs by up to 30%”
Kashif Ansari
Kashif also suggested that Malaysia could capitalise on its advanced manufacturing sector to address housing needs by employing industrial construction techniques. This approach involves employing industrial construction methods to fabricate housing units in factories, which can then be assembled on-site.
He believes this approach could lower both the time and cost of construction, making homes more affordable and available quickly. He also stressed that affordable housing should not only be cheap but also comfortable, well-constructed, and sustainable.
And as urbanisation continues to draw more individuals into cities, Kashif anticipates a higher demand for affordable housing.
He pointed out that in the first quarter of this year, property transactions increased by 17.2 %, with buyers spending RM25.25 billion on homes, which is a 21% rise from last year.
However, Kashif noted that the increasing prices of land and homes, along with rising construction and financing costs, remain major obstacles to providing affordable housing.
Juwai IQI was featured in The New Straits Times and Lumi.
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