The government will push ahead to streamline the various departments and agencies involved in the property sector to raise their efficiency and also pushed ahead with industrialised building system (IBS).

The Minister of Housing and Local Government, Zuraida Kamaruddin said on Tuesday: "With the streamlining of these different agencies, we hope to monitor the distribution of affordable homes, the schemes and also the pricing.

"At the moment we are moving forward with our affordable home (schemes) under the ministry," she told reporters after opening the conference entitled, "The Malaysia Housing Agenda -- A New Hope For All", held at Wisma Rehda.

The streamlining of the agencies would enable the data to be consolidated and also fill the existing data gaps so that policy makers, stakeholders and the government could have a better overview.

"At the moment, we are only relying on data provided by JPN (Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara) and would need to the developers to submit their data so that the platform is updated.

"With the data accumulated, we could create a system where it could help us project the demand and housing needs in the future," she said.

The streamlining of the various agencies would help speed up and create the volume crucial for a successful and effective industrialised building systems (IBS), she added. The IBS plan had faced difficulties due to the lack in volume for the housing projects.

"IBS has the advantage of speed and also (reducing the cost, if we have the volume. By streamlining all these agencies , we should have the volume to adopt IBS materials in our houses."

Under the IBS, the components for the buidlings such as the walls etc are manufactured in a controlled environment - either onsite or offsite - and ready to be used in constructing the building. Zuraida estimated that the current 11 IBS plants could produce about 20,000 IBS units per year.

She said the ministry had already engaged with a few banks and Bank Negara Malaysia to discuss the perquisites of the terms of the loans for buyers.

"We have sat in a few sessions and Bank Negara has agreed to come up with a more flexible set of terms regarding loan application and approval," she said.

The scheme could involve flexible rates in the length of the mortgage in a move to assist potential home buyers.

She gave an example as to how buyers can expect the flexible loan rates to work in their favour.

"At the point of entry, if you have a lower income and if say, in five years, your income has increased, the loan repayment you would have to pay would commensurate with your income," she added.

Zuraida added that the government was conducting a due diligence on two other agencies which are PR1MA and Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB).