/// East Malaysia Property News
Housing Market Plagued by Labour
Shortages, Tough Mortgage Rules
New ID Tag System to Protect
Buyers
Curb on Collective Purchase of
Property for Easy Profit
Sabahan Developers Grab Top Awards in SME
100 Fast Moving Companies
Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk
Abdul Rahman Dahlan
The local housing sector is facing
labour shortages, particularly
for licensed land surveyors,
while the central bank’s tough
lending guidelines contravene the
government’s efforts to promote lowcost homes, according to Malaysian
Developers Council (MDC).
Represented by REHDA President
Datuk Seri Michael Yam Kong Choy,
his SHEDA counterpart Zaidi Ahmad
and SHAREDA head Francis Goh, the
council raised both issues during
the 19th MDC meeting at Wisma
Kinsabina, Penampang.
“Whilst the Government’s objectives
and policies to increase affordable
housing is to be applauded, the
MDC is concerned that the financing
facilities for these affordable units are
not aligned,” said Goh.
With loan rejection rate at worrying
levels, members of the three
associations have revealed that
buyers are facing great difficulty in
securing housing loans, especially
first-time buyers.
Hence, it appears that Bank Negara
Malaysia’s stringent mortgage rules
that were implemented in 2012
are going against the government’s
initiatives on affordable housing.
“We understand that the prime intent
of BNM for introducing the guideline
is to curb household debt, but the
government should look at other
better mechanisms and qualifying
criteria to facilitate first-time buyers,”
he noted.
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On the lack of skilled workers, the
authorities should amend its anti
foreign labour measures as the
Economic Transformation Programme
had significantly increased the
demand for manpower in the
construction industry.
“Unless the government reviews
the measures taken against the
use of foreign labour, this shortage
of human resource would lead
to delivery problems and legal
implication arising from contractual
obligations.”
“As such, we appeal to the
government to engage the various
stakeholders to quickly resolve this
serious problem, otherwise projects,
development and delivery will be in
jeopardy and may even cause labour
fees to surge upwards.”
In regards to the dearth of licensed
land surveyors, the authorities are
urged to open up the practice to
those from peninsular Malaysia and
Sarawak.
Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents official website
A new identification (ID) tag
system for genuine real estate
agents and negotiators will be
implemented this month, said
the Board of Valuers, Appraisers
and Estate Agents (BOVAEA).
The move is in line with efforts
to enhance professionalism
within the real estate industry,
which is valued at over RM100
billion, and protect buyers from
being deceived by illegal agents
and negotiators.
To date, over 50 percent of
the property transactions in
Malaysia are being handled by
illegal agents.
According to Foo Gee Jen,
honorary secretary of the
Association of Valuers, Property
Managers, Estate Agents and
Property Consultants in the
Private Sector Malaysia (PEPS),
who is also a board member
of BOVAEA, the board receives
around 60 complaints per
month relating to various
misconducts by illegal agents
and negotiators.
These include
misrepresentation of property
size, failure to return deposits
and miscalculation of assets
valuations.
In 2012, the value of property
transactions within the country
reached RM142 billion. Out
of that figure, 60 percent was
handled by illegal agents, said
Foo.
He revealed that it will cost
BOVAEA over RM1 million to
introduce the ID tag, which
will include details of the
property agent or negotiator,
like his or her firm’s name and
identification card number.
The ID tag will also include a
Quick Response code, which will
allow buyers to double-check
the details online through their
smartphones.
While the tag is not a licence,
there is an annual registration
fee of RM100. Applicants are
mandated to attend a course
and submit their application
along with their certificate of
attendance.
So far, around 16,500 people
have attended the course
and only 12,000 applied for
registration as negotiators, said
Foo.
The government is to enforce
an initiative on May 15 to curb
the collective purchase of real
estate for subsequent sale at
a higher price for easy profit.
Urban Well-being, Housing
and Local Government
Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman
Dahlan said the government
would enforce the collective
purchasers register whereby
the developer would have to
register the name of buyers of
more than four houses at one
time with the ministry.
He was replying to a question
raised by Senator Yunus
Kurus on the measures taken
to curb the activity by the socalled ‘Real Estate Investors
Club’.
Abdul Rahman said the
enforcement of the regulation
was in addition to an earlier
initiative of restricting loans
to 70% of the purchase price
for individuals who had more
than two housing loans since
2010.
He said the ministry would
also co-operate with the
relevant authorities to
monitor any manipulation of
real estate prices.
The ministry would
collaborate with the
police, Bank Negara, the
Communications and
Multimedia Ministry and the
Domestic Trade, Cooperatives
and Consumerism Ministry
to monitor and prevent the
so-called Real Estate Investors
Club from influencing real
estate prices.
Abdul Rahman said the
government did not intend
to formulate legislation to
curb the activities of the club
because the country practised
free enterprise wher