An Inconvenient Home Truth
There are 1.9 million vacant homes in Malaysia
The Statistics Department revealed as at 2020 there was an increase of 1.2 million unoccupied homes in the country compared to just 700,000 in 2010, according to the Chief Statistician Mohd Uzir.
Let that figure of 1.2 million unoccupied residential units sink into your head for a moment. Some of the 1.9 million vacant units as at 2020 are probably abandoned units in housing estates where the developers ran out of cash and stopped construction.
“The statistics also showed that 18% of the houses purchased in Pahang were completely uninhabited while there are 30% unoccupied homes in Melaka,” Mohd Uzir was quoted as saying by a Malaysian newspaper. He added, “Among the factors that contributed to the statistic are home-buyers treated these houses as weekend-houses, or transformed them into home-stay and etcetera as they were working in other states.
Now some people still think we should help aspiring Malaysians get up on the property ladder. For example those good folks at REHDA Institute and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government recently organised Karnival Jom Beli Rumah, an initiative by the government to encourage homeownership among the rakyat.
But there is an elephant in the room nobody mentions- An Inconvenient Home Truth :
Homeownership in Bolehland is ALREADY higher than the UK, Germany and Switzerland !
Yes, according to a leading property portal, Malaysia has a home ownership rate of approximately 70%. That’s higher than United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland, who have lower home ownership rates of 62%, 51%, and 38%, respectively.
So what should policymakers in Bolehland do with the the 1.9m vacant residential homes? Well here is a suggestion from Sulaiman Akhmady Mohd Saheh, “Vacancy Tax In Malaysia: Should We Or Shouldn’t We? “ Sulaiman Saheh discussed the various justifications why some countries have a Vacancy Tax and if Malaysia should rethink its earlier decision to shelve such a tax.
He pointed out a vacancy tax normally refers to a tax levied on properties that have been left vacant and unused for a period of time, as stipulated by the respective country’s laws, at a rate that has been set against the assessed value of the property. It acts as a form of deterrent on speculators who reap the profit of price inflation without any intention of having the property used by either themselves or a tenant.
What do you think? Should we or shouldn’t we?
#realestateMalaysia #propertyforsale #vacantproperties #firsttimehomebuyers #vacancytax
