ISKANDAR PUTERI: The Johor government will propose to the Housing Ministry to revive the "Malaysian Rumah Keduaku" (MM2H) programme as part of the efforts to overcome the issue of residential overhang in the state.

State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor said based on a Johor Housing Development Corporation (PKPJ) data, 80 percent of residential overhang in Johor involved serviced apartments.

The remaining 20 per cent are bungalows and luxury houses located mostly in Johor Bahru and Iskandar Puteri, he added.

Mohd Jafni, who is Bukit Permai Assemblyma, said he would bring up the matter to the new Housing Minister.

"We would like the federal government to revive MM2H because it will solve many issues of residential overhang involving luxury houses costing more than RM500,000 which could not be sold since two or three years ago.


"These houses can be offered for sale to buyers outside Malaysiia," he told reporters when met after the State Assembly sitting here today.

Meanwhile, Mohd Jafni said the government is committed to building more than 21,000 affordable houses over the next five years, with more than 2,500 of them already completed or under construction.

Last september, former Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah was reported to have said that Johor recorded the highest in overhang residential units with 6,000 overhang units worth RM4.7 billion, contributing 17 per cent and 21 per cent for each of the number and value of overhang in the country.

He said almost 60 per cent of the overhang units were in the condominium or apartment property segment while in terms of price, almost 43 per cent were within the price range of more than RM500,000 per unit.

-- BERNAMA