Mr Chew Sang Hai, President of Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (SHAREDA) says that the Rent-to-Own scheme will help 67% of property buyers who, according to a report, can only afford houses priced between RM300,000 and RM500,000 and urged developers to re-purpose and cater to this market.

"I am optimistic it is time we creatively re-purpose our existence as developers. We must no longer build houses to sell but to help the house buyers to own a house," said Chew in his speech at the opening ceremony of PropEX 2018 at Sabah Trade Centre on 19 October.

"While there is a downtrend in the property market, the desire to transact remains strong," said Chew. He encouraged developers to tap into the 67% of buyers who are willing to buy but is not able to afford properties in the market, adding, "Strict loan policies make it impossible for most to own a house whereby in 1Q 2016 only 40% of loan applications were approved in comparison to the same period in 2015 at 50%."

"We are looking forward to working with the government to implement the Rent-to-Own programme (RTO). The objective of RTO is to facilitate home ownership especially with the affordable housing segment with an independent capital market structure capable of financing the whole spectrum of the relevant commercial requirement," said Chew. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be set up under the initiative of SHAREDA, according to Chew, to allow buyers to have accommodation at market rate rental for 5 years while also allowing them to improve their credit rating and obtain the loan facility within those 5 years.

PropEX 2018, a property exhibition organised by SHAREDA, kicked off on 19 October at the Sabah Trade Centre and will continue over the weekend until 21 October. The exhibition was officiated by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Local Government and Local Housing, Yang Berhormat Datuk Dr. Haji Jaujan Bin Haji Sambakong.

Visit PropEX 2018 and check out the 200 sqft urban garden, virtual reality, hologram talks, a huge "KK Masterplan" scale model and many more. In terms of properties, PropEX 2018 is showcasing an accumulated 11,673 property units valuing at RM35.225 billion.