KUALA LUMPUR – A total of 13,038 financing applications totalling RM1.5 billion have been approved under the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme up to May 31, 2022 since it began operating in 2008.
Deputy Finance Minister 1 Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah said a total of 14,308 applications had been received with 1,270 of them rejected due to some specific reasons.
“The first is the duplication of applications, as 70% of them made applications at various banks simultaneously.
“The second is in terms of ability to pay 65% of one’s total income, and the condition is that you must have an income of at least RM1,000.
“The third reason is that some unemployed people from the T20 group also applied. We think they can manage themselves with the bank institutions,” he said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara today.
He was replying to Senator Datuk Arman Azha Abu Hanifah’s question about the beneficiaries of the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme announced by the government in Budget 2022 as well as the measures implemented by the government to increase participation in this programme.
In 2007, a company under Minister of Finance Incorporated, Syarikat Jaminan Kredit Perumahan (SJKP), was established to provide a housing credit guarantee scheme to several targeted groups for home ownership.
This scheme allows members of the public who are capable but do not have official income proof or documents (salary statements), or who earn irregular income, to access up to 100% housing financing from selected financial institutions.
Shahar said that in an effort to increase the number of participants from the targeted group, the government has continued this scheme in Budget 2022 through the provision of a guarantee of up to RM2 billion, which is expected to benefit 5,000 to 6,000 targeted households, including young people, gig workers, and micro-entrepreneurs, and enable them to own homes.
He said this scheme has also been improved, with the funding guarantee limit increased from RM300,000 to RM400,000 to include legal fees and property valuation fees.
He explained that several initiatives have been taken to promote this programme to the targeted group such as joint promotion between SJKP and the Housing and Local Government Ministry under the i-Biaya programme in addition to promoting the scheme through mass and electronic media and billboards from time to time.
“SJKP is involved in the Jelajah Aspirasi Keluarga Malaysia programme which covers every state.
“There is also close cooperation between stakeholders such as financial institutions and developers for the purpose of joint promotion and approval of financing applications under the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme,” he said.
He added that the government is always committed to introducing various initiatives to help all groups, especially the B40 group, to own homes. – Bernama, August 10, 2022
