PETALING JAYA: A proposed review of the National Housing Policy will make home ownership more affordable for the people while increasing households’ disposable income, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Deputy Prime Minister said a review of the policy may be necessary due to the increase in household debts to gross domestic product (GDP) proportions from 67.2% in 2002 to 81.2% in 2022.
“The property sector continues to dominate household debts, with housing credits rising from 36% in 1997 to 59.7% in 2022.
“This trend is seen as having a significant impact on disposable income levels,” he said in a statement after chairing the third National Action Council on Cost of Living (Naccol) 2024 meeting here yesterday.
He said the meeting had agreed to examine the matter further, particularly in terms of credit growth amid wage stagnation, especially for the bottom 70% of households.Also present at the meeting were Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, representatives from state governments, corporate figures, non-governmental organisations, industry players and consumers.
Ahmad Zahid said the Finance Ministry should take up the proposal to review the policy with Bank Negara Malaysia and the Housing and Local Government Ministry.
“This includes reviewing the provision of long-term housing loans to ensure that individuals and less capable households can own homes without feeling burdened by rising house prices, particularly long-term housing loan financing,” he said.
The Statistics Department also presented the Cost of Living Indicator 2023, which was developed to provide an overview of the total expenditure required by households to meet a decent standard of living, including the ability to participate in society.The meeting was informed that the indicator would be launched by the Prime Minister on Nov 2. It was expected to add value to government policy-making related to the cost of living, including the implementation of aid distribution, especially for targeted groups, said Ahmad Zahid.
The meeting also discussed the implementation of co-payment features for medical and health insurance and takaful products, presented by Bank Negara.
It was told that the co-payment system could provide consumers with more choices, along with healthy competition among insurance or takaful companies offering products that matched the financial positions of policyholders or consumers.
“According to Bank Negara, the co-payment features can offer cheaper prices of between 19% and 68% for products without co-payment, indicating a good balance between supply and demand in the country’s medical and health sector.
“Also discussed was the implementation of two co-payment features, namely deductibles and co-insurance or takaful, which can help create a conducive and sustainable health ecosystem through transparency in medical bills for policyholders or consumers,” said Ahmad Zahid.
