KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Rehda Institute views positively the government’s indication that affordable housing may move away from the uniform RM300,000 price ceiling towards a more income-based model, saying affordability benchmarks should reflect local household incomes and actual demand.

The research arm of the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) said the benchmarks should be reviewed periodically, supported by income-based targeting and more location-specific allocation mechanisms.

“Furthermore, housing prices must also recognise actual delivery costs,” it said in a statement following the government’s decision to draft and amend four housing laws under the National Housing Policy (NHP) 2026-2035.

The institute noted that 82 per cent of developers surveyed in its Housing for All study reported that regulated prices for price-controlled housing were below actual development costs due to rising land, construction, labour, compliance and infrastructure costs.

It also supported the government’s emphasis on data-driven planning based on demographics, needs and actual demand.

Rehda Institute said better use of data on household formation, income, demographics, housing stock, vacancy rates, unsold completed units and mobility patterns could help address persistent supply-demand mismatches, unsold housing and abandoned developments.

“It can help avoid overbuilding in weak markets while ensuring genuine housing needs are met in areas of demand. Better data can also enable Malaysia to move from reacting to abandoned projects towards identifying risks earlier and preventing abandonment in the first place,” it said.

It also welcomed the NHP’s specific attention on the ageing population, including housing financing schemes tailored for senior citizens, retrofitting grants to facilitate ageing-in-place and incentives to the private developer for development of liveable senior care centres.

It said the approach was increasingly important as data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) showed that Malaysians aged 65 years and above accounted for eight per cent of the population in 2025, up from 7.6 per cent in 2024.

“Malaysia is on track to become an ‘aged nation’ by 2048, when citizens aged 65 and older reach 14 per cent of the total population. Future housing supply must respond to the different needs of households throughout their life cycle,” it noted.

On housing financing, the institute welcomed proposed measures including the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme (SJKP), stepped financing, shared ownership and long-term fixed-rate mortgages, particularly as loan eligibility remains a key barrier for aspiring homeowners.

Moving forward, Rehda Institute said it would continue supporting the government through Training, Research and Education, including research and training collaborations and platforms such as the Malaysia-Cambridge Urban Platform (MCUP) to strengthen housing affordability measurement, big data analytics, urban planning and evidence-based policymaking.

In the same statement, Rehda Institute chairman Datuk Jeffrey Ng Tiong Lip was quoted as saying that the NHP 2026-2035 reflected many of the issues the institute had been advocating, particularly demand-driven supply, demographic responsiveness and more flexible financing.

“The next step is to ensure numerical targets remain guided by actual household needs. Ultimately, success should not simply be measured by how many homes are built or owned, but whether Malaysians have access to the right housing, in the right location, under a tenure and financial commitment that they can sustainably afford,” he said. — Bernama