The Penang government will consider introducing additional affordable housing categories into the property market.

State housing committee chairman Jagdeep Singh said these units will be priced at between RM120,000 and RM150,000 because purchasers were finding it difficult to secure loans for affordable housing units currently priced between RM200,000 and RM400,000.

* List of affordable housing in Penang *

He said the rejection rate for loans is currently about 30% and urged financial institutions to relax the conditions of home loans for first-time purchasers.

He said making it difficult to secure financing for homes affected not only people in Penang but the entire country.

“It is time for banks to perform some corporate social responsibility initiatives,” he told a press conference today.

Earlier, Jagdeep said the third edition of the Malaysian Secondary Property Exhibition (Maspex) will be held at Queensbay Mall beginning Thursday. It will showcase more than 3,500 properties on the secondary market, with prices ranging from RM350,000 to RM2 million.

Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents Penang branch chairman Mark Saw said there are good buys in the secondary market.

“Prices are generally lower by some 15% to 20% compared to the primary market,” he said.

Source: TheSunDaily.my