After the owners have met the five-year moratorium period, PR1MA homes should only be resold to qualified Malaysian citizens who are purchasing a house for the first time, according to the National House Buyers Association (HBA).

"This is to ensure that such PR1MA units are not purchased en-bloc by property speculators and rented out again at very high rentals, depriving future generations of lower and middle-income buyers.”

According to PR1MA Corp's CEO Datuk Abdul Mutalib Alias, they are urging the authorities that the five-year moratorium for the resale of PR1MA homes should start from the date of the Certificate of Completion and Compliance, instead of when the land title was officially transferred to the buyer.

Meanwhile, HBA praised the government for implementing the Special PR1MA End Financing Scheme (SPEF), which will help low-income earners to obtain housing loans for such properties, as many have been rejected by banks.

"However, as this is a special financing scheme for the lower income group, HBA hopes that this financing scheme is only reserved for first-timers as PR1MA has already allowed second-time home buyers to buy PR1MA properties.”

On February 12 (Monday), PR1MA Corp announced the details of SPEF, which was jointly set-up by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the Bank Negara Malaysia along with AmBank, RHB Bank, Maybank and CIMB Bank.

Under SPEF, home buyers can get step-up funding and a similar facility but with an option to withdraw from EPF Account 2. Under both options, interest is only paid during the first five years, while payment for the principal only takes effect thereafter until the mortgage is fully settled.

For the second option, buyers can loan a larger amount, as the partner banks will also take into account their monthly contribution to EPF Account 2. However, SPEF's lending rate higher is higher at 4.75 percent compared to 4.45 percent for similar loans available at present.