Tycoon Defends New Home Ownership Scheme After Najib Says Something Fishy

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EdgeProp Sdn Bhd chairman Tong Kooi Ong. (Facebook pic)PETALING JAYA: The property portal behind FundMyHome, a new home ownership scheme that came under scrutiny over its financing method, said the initiative does not require any government funding, concessions, or guarantees, and was planned long before the government agreed to include it in the 2019 budget
EdgeProp Sdn Bhd said this was why the launch of the scheme came soon after the budget last week
“We thought long and hard over the past few years about finding a solution to help Malaysians, especially those with young families, who desire to own a home of their own instead of renting,” said EdgeProp chairman Tong Kooi Ong
“After crystallising our idea, we took it to the government and have been engaging the various regulators in the past several months, culminating in having the idea included when the budget was tabled in Parliament on Nov 2.”Tong was responding to former prime minister Najib Razak who said there was something suspicious about the scheme just two days after it was announced
He posed a set of questions to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, amid concerns by property experts that the FundMyHome scheme could pose a risk to buyers
Najib said a house buyer who could afford a 20% “deposit” could just buy the house and get a bank loan
“Why do investors or borrowers still share the profits with the buyers if they sell their homes after five years when during that period, they receive a 5% yearly return on investments from the 20% deposit?” he asked
Under FundMyHome, buyers pay 20% of the property price which will then be placed in a trust account to pay off the 5% annual investment return to the participating institutions for a five-year period
The balance of 80% will be contributed by participating banks such as Maybank and CIMB. For the first five years, there is no monthly repayment. After that, buyers either sell the home, buy out the remaining portion of the property not owned by them at market price, or refinance the home
Today, Najib also asked if discounts offered by housing developers would be abolished with the introduction of FundMyHome
“After five years, house buyers will still need to go the bank and apply for a loan, and at the market price of the home then. If buyers still cannot afford the home and have to pay monthly instalments, what will happen to them? Will they be evicted from their homes?”He also warned that the price of property might not appreciate as hoped
“So who is this scheme meant to help? The people or developers?” - FMT

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