Developers in Sabah seek more time to sell off surplus

KOTA KINABALU: A compulsory requirement for developers to provide 30% affordable homes in new projects from next year should be deferred until the surplus in the market is sold off, said a local housing association.

Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association president Datuk Susan Wong said several thousand units of affordable homes remain unsold in the market.

“Due to the oversupply of these affordable homes, we need some time to sell them. We hope the state Local Government and Housing Ministry will defer the implementation of the new policy,” she said in her appeal to the state government during the association's annual dinner here on Saturday night.

In his reply, state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor, who was a guest at the function, said the state could consider the association's request.

“We can consider more time for the developers before implementing the policy,” he said, adding however that it would need to study the actual number of surplus homes in Sabah.

The state government announced in October that all developers would be required to allocate at least 30% of the units in their housing projects to affordable homes priced below RM250,000 from Jan 1.