No plans to increase affordable house prices

Era Universe Development director and chairman Zulkifli Jafar (left) briefing Mohamed Khaled (third from right) and other guests on the Bandar Alam Masai integrated township development project.

There are no immediate plans to review the current prices of low-cost, medium-cost and affordable houses in Johor despite the escalating cost in the construction industry.

Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the state government would ensure that the prices of houses in these three categories remained until 2020.

“The prices (of the houses) are the cheapest in the country and we have no plans to increase them,” he told reporters at the launch of Bandar Alam Masai township project near here on Saturday.

The RM4.2bil freehold project with 3,000 units of mixed properties is located on a 210.43ha site undertaken by Era Universe Development Sdn Bhd and expected to be ready within the next seven to 10 years.

Mohamed Khaled said that Johor was able to maintain the prices of the affordable houses by way of cross-subsidising the construction costs of the houses.

A low-cost house in Johor is priced at RM42,000 each and medium-cost houses are priced at RM80,000, while affordable houses under the Rumah Mampu Milik Johor (RMMJ) are priced below RM150,000 each and affordable shoplots at RM150,000 each.

He reiterated that only genuine buyers and eligible first-time house owners would be able to own the houses as the applications were strictly vetted by the state authorities.

Mohamed Khaled said 60,000 units of affordable houses would be built in Johor within the next four years adding the state government was confident of achieving the target.

“About 48,000 units are under construction at various stages and we have issued offer letters to 32,000 eligible buyers and will deliver 6,000 units this year,’’ he said.

Mohamed Khaled said the no-nonsense approach by the state government in providing affordable houses to eligible house buyers had paid off with developers also playing their role in providing the houses.

He said previously there were about 28 developers who failed to build affordable houses below RM150,000 and now the figure had dropped just to five.

Under the state housing quota, developers are required to allocate 40% of their residential properties for low-cost, medium-cost, and affordable houses priced below RM150,000 as well as affordable shoplots. - The Star