KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6  -- Home affordability has generally improved in Malaysia in the last few years as the overall median house price had fallen by one per cent annually from 2016 to 2019.

According to the Economic Outlook 2021 report released by the Ministry of Finance, the overall median house price on average has dropped from RM298,000 in 2016 to RM289,646 in 2019, while during the same period, the annual median household income had risen by four per cent annually from RM62,736 in 2016 to RM70,476 in 2019.

“Although it has gradually decreased, the 2019 ratio implies that homes remained seriously unaffordable in general. Nevertheless, the median multiple scores may differ across income groups, types of property and states,” the report said.

According to the 2019 Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey, the report said home ownership has marginally improved between 2016 and 2019 with 76.9 per cent of households owned their homes in 2019 compared to 76.3 per cent in 2016.

“At this rate, home ownership in Malaysia can be considered as high and well to compare with other advanced countries such as Canada at 66.3 per cent, United States (65.3 per cent), United Kingdom (65.2 per cent) and South Korea (56.8 per cent), especially when Malaysia does not have a universal home ownership policy,” it said.

Nevertheless, the report said there is some disparity in home ownership among states in Malaysia.

“States with high ownership of above 84 per cent include Terengganu, Sarawak, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis. However, home ownership was lower than 76 per cent in Labuan, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Sabah and Pahang,” the report said.

According to an analysis conducted in the selected states of Kuala Lumpur, Sabah and Selangor, the B40 group in Kuala Lumpur and Sabah have been facing severe unaffordability issues for low-cost flats, low-cost houses and flats during the 2015-2019 period, but the severity of unaffordability in Sabah was not as severe as in Kuala Lumpur.

Selangor has resolved the issue of unaffordability for the B40 group with low-cost flats since 2016, but the group would find it challenging to upgrade to other types of housing properties in the state.

Meanwhile, the issue of housing unaffordability remained severe among the M40 in the three states during the period of 2015-2019 as the group in Kuala Lumpur could only afford flats and they are not qualified for public low-cost housing programmes, while the M40 in the two other states could only afford low-cost flats.

Based on this evidence, it is observed that some states are facing greater challenges in housing the rakyat, but the government remains committed to addressing home accessibility and affordability issues.

Through collaboration with the private sector since 2000, various public housing programmes were implemented to meet the needs of the different segments of the society particularly the M40 and B40 groups, including the 1Malaysia Housing Programme (PR1MA), 1Malaysia Civil Servants Housing Programme (PPAM), MyFirst Home Scheme and MyHome Scheme.

-- BERNAMA