GEORGE TOWN, April 13 — The state government has urged Bank Negara to reinstate the Developer Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS) to enable people to obtain bank loans to buy their first house.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said since the discontinuation of DIBS, many first-time buyers of affordable housing could not obtain bank loans because their income fell short of the bank’s requirements.
“As far as we know, up to 70 per cent of the housing loan applications, including low-cost and low-medium cost, have been rejected by private banks.
“Bank Negara should reinstate the scheme for first-time buyers to enable them to realise their dream of owning their own homes,” he said.
He suggested that legal fees should be part of the DIBS package and stamp duty should be waived to lower the initial entry cost for first-time home buyers.
Lim also said Bank Negara should extend Syarikat Jaminan Kredit Perumahan (SJKP) facilities to buyers of affordable houses costing from RM72,500 to RM400,000.
He added that funding for SJKP should be increased to RM3 billion to include not only guaranteeing loans for low-cost and low-medium cost houses by private banks but also for first-time buyers of affordable housing costing up to RM400,000.
With the present small sum of RM180 million of SJKP loan guarantees approved nationwide only for low and low-medium cost houses, he said there was not enough to go around nationally.
Lim said presently SJKP only guaranteed a maximum loan of RM120,000 “which is insufficient for affordable homes costing up to RM400,000.”
“It is sad that high-end loans for expensive luxury houses get lower interest rates than low and low-medium cost houses and affordable housing loans.”
Lim also questioned Bank Negara’s move to reduce the maximum tenure for loans of property purchases from 45 years to 35 years.
“How can first-time buyers from lower-income groups afford to buy their own homes with such a reduction in repayment tenure?
“It will surely increase the housing instalment payments and make it more difficult for lower-income groups to qualify for loans.”
He said the state government was taking proactive steps on its own initiative to assist low-income buyers who were unable to get loans by introducing the Shared Ownership Scheme (SOS) for low-cost houses.
“This is a first in the country. Many lower-income groups are able to qualify for loans if they need to borrow only 70 per cent of the property price.
“Under the SOS, the property is jointly owned by the state government which gives out loans of up to 30 per cent of the property price interest-free.
“With this 30 per cent interest-free housing loan from the state government, the buyer of low-cost houses needs to only take a loan for the rest of the property’s price, which most of them can qualify for,” said Lim.
