Testing times for new Unity Government to address the housing sector
Contributed by Sulaiman Saheh
As the 15th General Election results unfold, Malaysia enters yet another uncharted territory of having a unity government to manage the country. While the dust settles after a dramatic week, Malaysians get back to their daily lives and many would expect impending changes in making the country more progressive with a more inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Also, at a more personal level, this means going back to face the existing challenges of improving the quality of our lives and addressing the issue of rising costs of living. This includes the elusive question of how to improve access to home ownership and make homes more affordable to many first-time home buyers of various income classes. In improving access to housing for the B40 and M40, it is expected that the new government will continue many of the existing programmes though it may change its form and branding, and fine-tune its mechanisms to be more efficient and effective.
Meanwhile, the tabled Budget 2023 provisions were rather neutral to the property sector, similar to the stance observed from the previous Budget, it was evident that there was continued focus on first-time home buyers and lower costs for home buyers and residential transactions as well as maintenance of assets, especially low-cost housing units.