Key to home ownership: (from left) Maybank Islamic CEO Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican, Maybank group president & CEO Datuk Farid Alias, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, Maybank Islamic chairman Zainal Abidin Jamal and Maybank Group head of global banking Datuk Muzaffar Hisham at the launch of Maybank Islamic’s rent-to-own housing scheme.

PETALING JAYA: Maybank Islamic Bhd has launched a rent-to-own (RTO) scheme, the first bank to do so in Malaysia.

HouzKEY – its RTO product – is targeted at first-time house buyers and those who want to upgrade their homes.

“HouzKEY is a milestone achieved by Maybank Islamic, and we believe it will help address the growing issue of concern in Malaysia for affordable home ownership,” said Maybank Islamic’s CEO Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican in a statement yesterday.

The new product will initially be made available to Maybank employees, and is slated to be rolled out to the general public in early 2018.

Through HouzKEY, Maybank Islamic said it aimed to address the challenges faced by many purchasers in coming up with sufficient down payments for their new houses.

HouzKEY is also the first such RTO product in the country to be fully enabled on a digital platform - with the application and submission of supporting documents in relation to this scheme being required to be made online.

To be eligible for HouzKEY, applicants should have a household income of at least RM5,000 and commit to a minimum rental tenure of five years.

They will, however, have the option to purchase the property after one year at a pre-agreed price.

“We are constantly looking at introducing products which offer better value propositions to our customers.

“HouzKEY promotes financial inclusion by offering an alternative path to home ownership.

“We take pride that it is the first of such product offerings in the market,” he said.

“This product is our solution to the current challenge of home ownership and also our way of supporting Malaysia’s national agenda on home ownership,” he said.

The online portal will initially include properties in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor developed by a few well-known developers such as Eco World Development Group Bhd, SP Setia Bhd, Mah Sing Properties, Sime Darby Property and Gamuda Properties.

“We intend to progressively expand our offering to include properties in other locations throughout Malaysia as well, and include more developers over the coming months to give Malaysians an even wider choice of homes to invest in,” he said.