Bank Negara's RM1b fund to help B40 M'sians own their first home
Bank Negara Malaysia has launched an RM1 billion fund aimed at helping low-income Malaysians obtain loans to purchase their first home.
Under the “Fund for Affordable Homes” scheme, Malaysians with a household monthly income of RM2,300 and below are eligible for loans with a financing rate capped at 3.5 percent per annum for residential properties priced RM150,000 and below.
The five participating banks are AmBank, Bank Simpanan Nasional, CIMB, Maybank and RHB...
The newly launched housing loan scheme is as announced in the Budget 2019 speech last November.
Bank Negara Malaysia has launched an RM1 billion fund aimed at helping low-income Malaysians obtain loans to purchase their first home.
Under the “Fund for Affordable Homes” scheme, Malaysians with a household monthly income of RM2,300 and below are eligible for loans with a financing rate capped at 3.5 percent per annum for residential properties priced RM150,000 and below.
The five participating banks are AmBank, Bank Simpanan Nasional, CIMB, Maybank and RHB.
Speaking at the launch today, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the fund, which was included in his Budget 2019 speech last November, is expected to last two years.
“I hope that this RM1 billion fund for homebuyers will help reduce our affordable housing problem - whereby housing is built by the state or federal government, but can’t be sold.
“This is not because there are no buyers, but because they (buyers) struggle to obtain loans [...] We hope this will help solve this problem.
“If it doesn’t, it is back to the drawing board to think of a further (sic) formula to solve this problem,” he said during his speech at BNM’s Sasana Kijang centre in Kuala Lumpur today.
At a press conference afterwards, Lim revealed that 16 people have applied for the fund since it went online on Jan 2, of which five have been approved and the remaining are under consideration.
Also present was Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, who said there were properties priced RM150,000 and below in smaller towns in the country.
“It would be areas that (are) a bit out of the main towns like Alor Setar and small towns like Seberang Perai in Penang. Places like these have have homes priced as such,” she said when asked.
Mandatory financial education
Fund applicants will need to undergo and pass an online financial education module conducted by the central bank's Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) before they are eligible.
During the launch, BNM governor Shamsiah Yunus said this requirement was aimed at raising financial literacy among low-income households.
She also urged the public to view the fund, with its low financing rate, as a “temporary convenience”.
“This fund, with its low financing rate, should be seen as a temporary convenience which is only for a limited term.
“To ensure that home financing is sustainable, financing rates need to reflect the actual risk faced by financial institutions, taking into account the cost of funds, administrative costs, liquidity risks and loan lending,” she stressed.
The solution lies in boosting Rakyat income through better education and by raising productivity. Malaysia needs to cut red tape and brings in more FDIs
29/Jan/2019 at 5:18:02pmLow-cost houses in name only! When people go to the developers to purchase, their arms are twisted to buy "renovation" packages as well, or 'sorry'. The "renovation" packages can be another half or more than half of the house price. Common in Penang for RM72,500 houses to cost more than RM100,000. A car parking lot can be half the price of the house and with the "renovation" package literally forced upon the buyers, they end up paying double or even more for the house!
Pretty limited housing fund really! No opportunity for the vast majority in urban areas with ongoing property stress issues. The low income home ownership packages have been around forever. This Fund is just fresh packaging for the same old bunch of people. Still no relief for the rest of us in urban areas. This Fund was promoted to assist all low -medium income earners. The actual launch proves to be restricted to small regional areas due to the RM150,000 ceiling on home value. Previous Govt attempts to manage the Real Estate market responsibly in urban areas have seen scattered and failed attempts to reduce the squeeze on Home loans and cost of housing to the vast majority in urban areas. Still too much greed out there in Real Estate world to fix the low-middle income earners home woes. Will PH succeed where others (BN) have failed for the urban dweller?