KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — Putrajaya will continue building affordable homes for Malaysians even at a time when economic growth has slowed, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.
He pointed out that despite the depreciating ringgit value and the global economic downturn, the government was still building affordable homes under its Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia (PR1MA) scheme.
“Even though we are coming to the end of 2015, even with the unstable global crude oil prices and the decline of the Chinese economy, and US interest rate that is still uncertain, all this will have an impact on our ringgit and our economy but we’re grateful that development projects for the public’s well-being can still be conducted by our government,” he said during PR1MA Housing Expo 2015 at the Putra World Trade Centre today.
He added that the Putrajaya’s continued commitment under the PR1MA initiative shows the public exactly why they should support governments that walk the talk.
“That’s why we must understand that when we support the government we must support a government that not only talks and that only criticises but also more importantly a government that can deliver to the public and this is what we must prioritise,” he said.
He added that Barisan Nasional (BN) is well on its way to fulfilling its Election 2013 pledge to build one million affordable homes over five years.
“As of September 30, 60 per cent of the one million affordable houses we promised have been built,” he revealed.
He did not say, however, when the remaining 400,000 affordable houses will be built.
In a recent survey by PropertyGuru, three out of four Malaysians expressed unhappiness with the current property market, citing expensive properties and lack of government action among their reasons.
The main reasons cited was the perception that properties are overpriced (86 per cent), the rapid increase of prices (61 per cent), a laggard economy (57 per cent) and unpredictable real estate conditions (37 per cent).
Despite the various government schemes to encourage domestic property purchase, 37 per cent of respondents said they did not apply for such programmes, while another 36 per cent said they did not qualify for such assistance.
Only one out of five respondents applied for PR1MA while only four per cent applied for the Private Affordable Ownership Housing Scheme (MyHome).
