Housing price control: is it a way forward?

Abstract

Housing has been a long-term focus in urban development and in social and economic policies. Addressing the housing needs of the nations is an important agenda for developed and developing countries. Each country has its own unique housing system, which consists of a method which ensures that housing of a sufficient quality is built, with a fair housing allocation system, and a properly maintained housing stock. Past research suggests that the government plays a central role in creating, sustaining, and improving the housing system. These actions are carried out through legislation, from banking and mortgage lending practices to tax and policy/regulatory measures affecting the building materials, professional practices, subsidy programs, and incentive patterns for average households. The current study presents a literature review on the experience of various countries in addressing housing affordability issues. Moreover, this study contributes to the body of knowledge related to housing price control, based on the experience of various countries. It aims to provide an alternative for Malaysia in handling the housing affordability issue.

The Low-Middle Income Housing Challenges in Malaysia

“…The FGD followed the procedures suggested by Sekaran and Bougie (2013) and Kumar (2011). Similar techniques to conduct and manage a FGD were found in previous housing-and urbanisation-related studies such as Kamal et al (2015); Yusof, Shafiei, Yahya, and Ridzuan (2010) and . The FGD was taped and transcribed for further evaluation and interpretation.…”

“…In addition, it is worth noting that Malaysia records the highest household debt among the Southeast Asia countries in 2015 (A. L. Tan, 2016). Subsequently, provision of affordable housing (AH) has become a critical challenge in urban cities of developing countries (Ram & Needham, 2016;Shi et al, 2015;Yang & Chen, 2014) and urban Malaysia is no different (Kamal, Hassan, Osmadi, & Fatah, 2015;Shuid, 2008;Zainun et al, 2015).…”

Supply-side drivers of residential price in Malaysia: a qualitative analysis from developers' perspectives

“…The government via its policy has somewhat successful in diverging the price problem of the residential properties for the low-and middle-income earners even though it's not sustainable solution as the fiscal constrain cannot be put aside. Over the years several efforts have undertaken by the Malaysian government through legislation, financing, regulation and programs to amend the price hike (Kamal et al, 2015); however, the matter surrounding income inequality is still in an indeterminate state. As because the core issue of it can propagate to income inequality problems ascertained due to the stagnation of wages for the low-and middle-income earners even though there is increase in education attainment (Record et al, 2019).…”

Volume 17 : 2019 Issue 1

“…Property prices in general are influenced by economic fundamentals as well as supply and demand dynamics of the local housing market. In general, property price has been showing an increasing pattern over time worldwide (Osmadi, Kamal, Hassan, & Fattah, 2015;Kamal, Hassan, Osmadi, & Fatah, 2015;Topalov, 2018).…”