KUALA LUMPUR: Cagamas Holdings Bhd chairman Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff said there are “much needed changes” in the housing sector, which has today become a major challenge facing the Malaysian government.
Nik Mohd said at stake are three issues, how to increase the number of affordable housing supply, lowering the overall building costs and enhancing policies and regulatory framework to promote a sustainable and responsive housing sector.
He said this when hosting a dialogue on Sustaintable Development of Affordable Housing today.
He added the stakeholders, namely regulators, ministries, government agencies, banks, government-linked companies, would hopefully trigger these “much needed changes to the industry.”
Cagamas, said Nik Mohd, in its 30-year existence, has played a pivotal role in facilitating the spread of home ownership among Malaysians.
From an initial purchase of conventional housing loans of RM100mil in 1987, it had by the end of April 2017, cumulatively refinanced housing loans in the secondary market equivalent to RM133bil, or about 1.9 million houses.
At the same event, Bank Negara Malaysia deputy governor Shaik Abdul Rasheed Abdul Ghaffour said in his speech that the affordable housing shortage based on 2014 data is estimated at 960,000 units.
"This could rise to one million units by 2020 if further measures are not taken to increase supply of affordable houses and improve affordability," Shai
