This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 8, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Mah Sing Group Bhd expects to “directly benefit” from the newly launched First Home Deposit Funding Scheme (MyDeposit), as some 70% of its house buyers are first-time homebuyers aged below 40. In a statement lauding MyDeposit, Mah Sing also noted that half of its residential launches this year are priced below RM500,000.

“The scheme is a very viable solution for first-time homebuyers, as the eligible ceiling price is RM500,000, with household income capped at RM10,000.

“This will directly benefit Mah Sing as 70% of our house buyers are first-time homebuyers aged below 40 years old. Furthermore, 50% of our residential launches in 2016 are priced below RM500,000, making half [of] our potential buyers eligible to apply for the MyDeposit scheme,” said Mah Sing’s group managing director-cum-group chief executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum.

The scheme, introduced under Budget 2016 for middle-income earners to purchase properties below RM500,000, took off yesterday.

Leong said some of Mah Sing’s projects that fall into this price category are the Cerrado serviced apartments in Southville City@KL South, which are affordable luxury homes indicatively priced from RM368,000, and the Cendana apartments in M Residence 2 in Rawang, Selangor, priced at RM170,000, in the central region.

Leong also reiterated the group’s call to banks to take into account overtime and allowances when drawing up finance schemes for first-time homebuyers, besides suggesting that they consider extending 100% financing to this category of buyers.

He also urged Bank Negara Malaysia to extend the payment tenure for this group instead of limiting it to 30 years.

If buyers are able to obtain loans, developers will be able to increase the supply of such affordable homes as development is “all about cash flows”, said Leong.

“Currently there is a big supply gap of housing in Malaysia, yet most developers are scaling back on launches because buyers have difficulty in coming up with the differential sum, and they find it difficult to obtain end-financing,” he said, adding that this will further exacerbate the supply-demand gap, which is growing yearly.

Hence, Leong urged developers, bankers and the government to “work hand in hand to improve this situation”.