THERE is always good and bad news in the local property market, just like anywhere else in the world.
For current house owners, the fact that property prices are stable or in same places increasing is undoubtedly good news.
However, for those who cannot afford to buy a property, rising property prices is always bad news and getting a 100 percent loan from banks is out of the question.
However, there is a silver lining in every cloud.
Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia, which has a mandate to build 50,000 houses priced between RM100,000 and RM400,000, has introduced a special end-financing scheme that will make ownership possible, especially for first-time house buyers.
The scheme will provide those struggling to draw out a loan to land their first house via a huge reduction in monthly instalments at affordable levels.
The cornerstone of the scheme, which is established in collaboration with Bank Negara Malaysia, the Employees Provident Fund, and four local banks, namely Maybank, CIMB, RHB and AmBank, is the step-up only or step-up with EPF Account 2 withdrawal options, where in the first five years, only interest is paid.
The principal amounts kicks in from year six till the loan is settled.
Malaysians with individual or combined monthly household income of between RM2,500 and RM15,000 are eligible to apply for the PR1MA houses.
Rahim & Co International Sdn Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman lauded PR1MA’s move to offer potential buyers an easy financing scheme and hoped it will be extended to others.
“I think what PR1MA is doing is very good, as long as you can afford to pay the interest for the first five years and, hopefully, your salary will increase by the time the principal kicks in.
“I also think it is feasible because the banks will go through the borrowers’ background before approving any loans,” he told NST Property after releasing the Rahim & Co Research- Property Market Review 2016/2017, here, recently.
Former president of the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) Siva Shanker said buyers should take the opportunity to buy a house under the new PR1MA scheme.
“In my opinion, if you are waiting for the best time to buy, you will never get that best time unless you have a crystal ball to know what is going to happen.
“The market is very quiet. The middle-class cannot buy properties because they are too expensive. All that they can look at is affordable housing and this scheme has come at the right time.
“I think this is a wonderful initiative by PR1MA to get things off the ground. With their lending criteria, individuals will have more money in their pockets.
“What is really attractive is that you pay only interest for the first five years,” said Shanker.