LETTERS: Malaysians are hard-pressed to buy homes as prices have outpaced income.
The average housing price in late 2024 is expected to reach RM438,967. Based on income data, the maximum affordable house price should be within RM228,168.
This means that Malaysians are facing an increasingly difficult situation, coupled with increasing cost of living, resulting in homeownership stress.
The government, with developers and related parties in the housing industry, should emphasise the construction of new housing according to certain demographics.
Furthermore, young buyers tend to have high debt obligations that restrict their financial capacity to get a home loan.
Some home owners are affected by the increase in the overnight policy rate, which has increased the monthly loan repayment rate, further reducing their spending power.
So new housing financing initiatives should make it easier for Malaysians to get a lower rental or reduced monthly repayments.
HAFIRDA AKMA MUSADDAD
Lecturer, Faculty of Management and Information Technology, Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times