KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Oct: Studies carried out by academics, as well as local and international research institutions, found that the capability of the people of this country to own their own homes is the lowest compared to other countries.
What is more troubling is that studies also show that 85.1 percent of the middle class also cannot afford homes priced RM200,000 and above offered by the 1Malaysia People’s Housing (Prima) scheme compared to only 15.1 percent of the same group who can afford it.
The Member of Parliament for Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar, said that this is due to the high prices of houses, especially in urban areas and the low salary compared to the high cost of living.
“The study by Dr Nor Malina Malik (Dean of the School of Social Sciences, USM) showed that 85.1 percent of respondents when answering the question on whether they can buy the Prima homes only showed that 15.1 percent of the middle class is able to buy homes priced RM200,000 and above.
“These Prima homes cannot be afforded by not only the poor, but also the middle class because Malaysian is ‘severely unaffordable’; that is the term used,” said Nurul Izzah.
She said this during the Bicara Harakah forum titled ‘Bajet 2015 – Di Mana Pincangnya’ at the My Harakah Bazaar Gallery here at Jalan Pahang yesterday.
She added that while a credit capacity study found that 75.9 percent of the people are not able to buy homes priced RM250,000 and above, and 52,000 cannot afford to buy homes over the price of RM150,000 while the value of property in urban and suburbs are soaring.
Nurul Izzah also commented on a report by a local newspaper, The Star, that stated that residents now in the Klang Valley who own homes in the area need to have a salary of at least RM9,630 and above.
“I do not know if The Star wants us all to move and buy homes in Tanjung Karang,” added Nurul Izzah.
Meanwhile, a demographic comparison study on the capability to own homes in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and the United States, based on the median salary also showed that the houses in Malaysia is most unaffordable for Malaysians.
Nurul Izzah also compared the minimum wage in Shenzen China, which is RM8 per hour, compared to Malaysia’s which is only RM4.33 per hour.
“This is the reality brought up by economic experts (and )lecturers to give us feedback on how we can fix our performance and solve the people’s problems.
“Unfortunately, there is no concrete measure to be taken except the minim wage of RM900 which is still problematic to be implemented,” added Nurul Izzah.
NS
