GEORGE TOWN: The absence of a comprehensive state housing policy is the main cause for property prices escalating on Penang island, said Coalition for Good Governance Penang committee member Tan Seng Hai.
He said prices were soaring not because of inadequate supply as claimed by certain quarters.
Tan, who is an engineer, said there was no state policy to curb sub-sales, block sales and gimmicks like soft launches and staff purchases.
“The increase in the price of high-end properties will pull up property prices in the medium and lower end,” he said in a statement here yesterday.
He was commenting on a statement by Penang Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association chairman Datuk Jerry Chan that property prices on the island would escalate if housing projects on hillslopes were banned as it would result in a shortage of supply.
Tan said there was an oversupply of residential units on Penang island based on figures provided by the Statistics Department and National Property Information Centre.
When contacted, Chan said the population in Penang had tripled in the last 30 years without including foreign workforce.
“Tan could be assuming that one household or one individual owns a single property. But that is usually not the case. Many of them are tenants,” he said.
By The Star
Friday, June 8, 2012
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