YOURSAY | ‘When you rent a house, you are helping your owner to pay off his/her house…’
Rent, instead of buying properties, minister tells the young
Clever Voter: The reality today is that the majority of Malaysians will not be able to earn enough to buy a house.
Indeed, many seniors may not even live comfortably after retirement. That’s because many had not earned enough to save.
In other words, irrespective of race or religion, there is huge disparity in income and wealth. This is no fault of government. This is universal. Renting, instead of buying, is a practical solution.
This country has been exporting its labour for years to Singapore and other advanced markets.
Our problem is low income which cannot be resolved because of the available supply of cheap ones from our neighbours, and for the same job, why not head to Singapore for three times the amount.
Although education is the key to raising productivity and income, we spent lots on education infrastructures with very poor returns. Ultimately, this government must be answerable.
Worldly Wise: Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani’s advice to live in rented houses and do business from rented premises is sound.
However, our local authorities are not elected by the people. This poses some problems.
They can do much to build houses and rent it out at affordable rates with the proviso that the tenants maintain them while they are occupying the house and or be compelled to form common bodies to maintain multi-storey buildings.
Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), which is allowing big businessmen to build so many expensive houses for profit, ought to be stopped in future.
Well Thats Fantastic: Poor people paying the mortgages of wealthy people through rental?
Why not give tax breaks to investors building new dwellings and take away tax incentives to owning existing housing as opposed to rental properties.
Speculators alone in Malaysia make the buying market already overpriced and inaccessible to the average purchaser. Put a heavy tax on owned long-term unoccupied dwellings as well.
And auction off land that people aren't developing in already heavily-developed areas.
Anonymous 2405391458108389: When you rent a house, you are helping your owner to pay off his/her house, and you yourself will never own your own house.
Anonymous #00830595: This is akin to what another minister “advised" many years ago when the fuel price went up - cycle to work.
In Germany, 60 percent of the population rent and only 40 percent own houses, but the government makes sure rents are controlled and the people are not burdened with unfair hikes.
Can the BN government do the same?
Just a Malaysian: Purchasing a house when young is the very first step towards personal wealth building.
It is highly recommended for young professionals since fixed asset will appreciate. Many countries are advocating home ownership to create a sense of belonging.
The minister is trying to evade the issue of home prices versus income and in a typical Umno-style knee-jerk reaction, he came up with this “smart” solution.
KSD: The government blundered by forcing banks to tighten credit. This strangled the property market.
It appeared to be a wise move except they failed to note that there are tens of thousands of house buyers who have or will lose their jobs because the same government has run this economy over a cliff.
These folks need to sell their homes. With no buyers in sight, these homes are going to be seized by banks and the unfortunate owners will face financial ruin.
This government has all but destroyed a few generations of Malaysians through its mismanagement. The sooner it is shown the door, the better.
1 Melayu 1 Bahasa 1 Malaysia: What the government must do is control the uncontrolled rise in the cost of housing in Malaysia. The money a person uses to rent a house for 30 years is enough to buy a house in the end.
For how long will a young couple rent a house before they can afford to buy a house? By the time some are ‘able’ to buy a house, they would only have another 10-15 years of their working life to pay for it.
Anakraja: Well, Malaysians, if you do not have money to rent houses, it is better to build a house on your limited budget.
After I got a job, my friends advised me to join them and live like them. Initially, I had to borrow from friends and relatives – the aim to build a house on, yes, government land.
These settlements grew and the population of my settlement also grew. Within the settlement, there was a kind soul who operated a generator and charged us a small sum. Our lights would be on from 7.30pm to 7am.
There was a water tanker that would come by to provide water. This water was only for cooking and drinking. Some dug wells near our houses and all would go there to bathe and wash clothes.
For those who cannot rent, this is the only way.
Dkay: Give 100 percent tax off for one house purchase. Any second or third house, put a tax of 400 percent of the value per year. Speculation will stop.
Georgie74: A fresh graduate's pay in the 90s was around RM1,100 and a semi-detached house in town (not Kuala Lumpur) was RM80,000.
Today the new graduate's pay is RM2,200 (about twice) but the same house is RM400,000 (five times). Mr Minister, how to wait? The longer you wait, the worse it gets.
From house owners to house tenants in one decade
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