DASAR MENGAWAL HARGA RUMAH.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan akan memperkenalkan lebih banyak dasar yang bersesuaian sekiranya perlu, untuk mengawal harga rumah agar semua rakyat mampu memiliki rumah sendiri.

Menteri berkenaan Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung berkata kerajaan sememangnya sedar mengenai peningkatan harga rumah secara mendadak terutama di kawasan Lembah Klang dan beberapa bandar besar di Johor dan Pulau Pinang.

Beliau berkata faktor-faktor yang menyumbang kepada trend peningkatan ialah wujudnya permintaan dan penawaran pada harga yang tinggi, kos tanah dan harga bahan binaan yang meningkat, serta ketersediaan kemudahan dan perkhidmatan di satu-satu tempat.

"Sebagai kerajaan yang mendahulukan rakyat, pelbagai langkah telah dilakukan bagi memastikan setiap rakyat terutama mereka yang berpendapatan rendah dan sederhana mampu memiliki tempat tinggal yang selesa," katanya ketika menjawab soalan Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (BN-Gua Musang) di Dewan Rakyat di sini, Selasa.

Tengku Razaleigh ingin tahu sama ada Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan sedar harga rumah yang ditawarkan oleh pemaju kepada rakyat sekitar Lembah Klang dan beberapa bandar lain meningkat secara mendadak akhir-akhir ini.

Chor berkata dalam tempoh Rancangan Malaysia Ke-10, kerajaan menyasarkan pembinaan sebanyak 161,000 unit rumah mampu milik yang merangkumi 78,000 unit akan dibina oleh kerajaan dan 83,000 unit dibina oleh pemaju swasta.

"Rumah-rumah yang dibina oleh kerajaan sendiri akan dijual dengan harga RM35,000 seunit manakala rumah-rumah yang dibina oleh pemaju swasta akan dijual dengan harga RM42,000 hingga RM50,400 seunit," katanya.

Chor berkata kerajaan juga telah mengambil beberapa pendekatan dalam menangani cabaran peningkatan harga rumah yang mendadak serta penyediaan tempat tinggal kepada seluruh rakyat Malaysia.

Antaranya ialah menyediakan rumah kos rendah sama ada menerusi program perumahan rakyat atau pembinaan oleh pemaju swasta bagi golongan berpendapatan rendah (kurang RM2,500 sebulan) dan menerusi sebuah agensi kerajaan PR1MA Corporation bagi golongan berpendapatan sederhana (antara RM2,500 hingga RM7,500 sebulan).

"Kerajaan turut menyediakan pinjaman sehingga RM45,000 dengan tempoh bayaran balik sehingga 30 tahun bagi golongan berpendapatan RM750 hingga RM2,500 untuk membina rumah baru di atas tanah sendiri atau tanah yang dimiliki ahli keluarga terdekat. Kemudahan pinjaman ini secara langsung akan meningkatkan keupayaan rakyat untuk memiliki rumah sendiri," katanya.

Di samping itu, Chor berkata kerajaan turut prihatin dan ingin memastikan agar tidak wujud kegiatan spekulasi yang keterlaluan dalam pasaran hartanah, dengan memperkenalkan semula Cukai Keuntungan Harta Tanah sejak 1 Januari 2010.

Selain itu, beliau berkata kerajaan juga melaksanakan beberapa mekanisme kawalan iaitu melalui pengurangan 'Loan to Value' kepada 70 peratus sahaja bagi pinjaman perumahan untuk pembelian rumah ketiga dan seterusnya.

Tindakan ini akan mengurangkan keupayaan kewangan individu yang terlibat dalam aktiviti spekulator kerana mereka perlu mendahulukan 30 peratus daripada kos harga rumah dengan wang sendiri, katanya. - BERNAMA 

HOW TO FINISH YOUR HOME LOAN EARLIER?

I think most of you would agree with me about this: your mortgage is by far the single largest commitment in your life. Over the life of your loan, you would have paid or will be paying tens of thousands in interest alone to the bank. As a general rule of thumb you will be paying twice the amount of your initial loan amount if you chose to finish your home loan within 30 years.

Are you aware that you will only reduce less than 10 percent of the principal after five years in repaying your loan to the bank if you were to take a 30 year loan? By the 20th year you still pay less than half of your principal. It is time you take charge of your loan and finish paying off your loan early to save tens and thousands in interest to the bank.

Gone are the days in the 60's to the 90's when home buyers were to take up home loans for a 30-year tenure. Today, there are many tools in the market which borrowers can use to knock off the loan tenure. Banks today are also more flexible as compared to 10 years ago.

The sooner you pay off your home loan, the earlier you can retire and be debt free. There are many strategies that you can apply to pay off your loan early, but not all of them may work for you. Doing your own research is necessary, so be discerning in choosing the one that best suits your needs. 

Here are some ways that you might find useful:-

Making Extra Payment(s)

If you want to see magic, get yourself a mortgage calculator and see what happens when you pay a little extra every month. You will save a substantial amount in interest and this will cause you to finish your home loan early. The more you pay towards the principal, the less interest you will have to pay and the faster you will finish your loan.

When you make an extra payment, make sure the extra is applied to principal reduction instead of paying for your installment for next month. Today with technology enhancement, you just need to go to the bank and make a request by signing a service request form available at the Banks counter. Ten years ago when I was working at a bank, borrowers were required to give three months notice before being allowed to make any extra payment.

Before you make any extra payment, study your home loan contract and make sure you will not be charged pre-payment penalties.

Remember: even small monthly savings can add up to a huge sum.

Bi-Weekly Payment

If you were to set up a bi-weekly payment for your home loan, which means breaking your monthly installment into twice a month, it will shave off at least four years tenure if your loan had a 30-year tenure.

So what is the catch, you may ask? If you were to pay half your regular installment every other week, instead of making a full payment you will have made 26 installments, which is equivalent to 13 monthly installments in a year. This basically means in every year, you'll be paying an extra month's installment.