KUALA LUMPUR, Monday 14 March 2011 (Bernama) -- Barisan Nasional Youth (BN) today urged the government to reconsider the My First Home scheme by increasing the 100% loan from RM220,000 to RM300,000 to ensure young people can buy houses in big towns.
Its chairman Khairy Jamaluddin said increasing the amount was relevant because houses in the Klang valley are expensive and young people would not be able to buy properties with the maximum loan amount of RM220,000.
"In the Klang valley it will be difficult to buy houses priced at (RM100,000 - RM220,000), maybe in the outskirts or rural areas it is possible," he told reporters after launching the Bus Advertisement Campaign for BN Youth Job Fair 2011.
The brilliant idea of the My First Home Scheme that benefits the young working adults earning less than RM3,000 a month to obtain up to 100% housing loan for houses costing between RM100,000 to RM220,000 was an initiative by the government, Cagamas Bhd and financial institutions was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on March 8.
However, young people would not be able to buy a decent house in the city or big towns as prices may exceed RM300,000.
Khairy hoped the government would consider increasing the amount as proposed because the younger generation are very keen to own their own houses.
KUALA LUMPUR, Tuesday 15 March 2011 (Bernama) -- As the Japanese tsunami and earthquake and fear of a nuclear catastrophe sent Japanese shares and Asian stocks tumbling, Malaysian economists are saying the post-quake reconstruction would be likely to boost the Asian regional economy, reports China's Xinhua news agency.
The situation in Japan, the world's third largest economy, costs Asian stock market to plunge due to panic selling.
Nikkei plummeted 11.4% to its lowest level in two years on Tuesday, on top of the 6.2% decline a day before.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged 2.9% and Malaysia's KLCI dropped 0.75% after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced an increased level of radiation from the nuclear reactors and told residents living within 30 miles (48.3 kilometres) to stay indoors.
Economist, Dr Yeah Kim Leng, told Xinhua in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday that although Japan's disaster is resulting in uncertainties in Asian trade and stock exchange, it could ultimately boost regional economies when the reconstruction process begins.
"Recovery efforts in Japan will likely create an increase in demand, temporary boost to global economy, although we are concerned about the medium to long term impact of a slower or weak Japanese growth that may further tilt back to the double dip.
"So likely the earthquake may cost a double dip, although in the short term, we may see a boost in reconstruction efforts," Dr Yeah says.
About 10% of Malaysia's overall exports goes to Japan, which also makes up about 12% of Malaysia's overall imports.
Timber companies in Malaysia would be the first to benefit from Japan's post-construction activities.
Malaysia is the largest exporter of timber to Japan, which heavily rely on imported timber products like plywood.
Dr Yeah said production in Japan was well managed this time around compared to that in the previous earthquake.
And Japan's ability to ram up production in unaffected areas could help moderate and smooth out production losses in affected areas.
"We do see a short term disruption, how quickly they can move back to smooth out will depend on their dependency and their ability to source alternative supplies, because intermediate imports from Japan actually accounts quite substantial amount of our imports from Japan.
"They could face some temporary shortages. We have noted last year they have filled up in inventory levels, so that three to six months time of buffer would help them moderate any disruption to the production," he says.
The devastation in Japan also resulted in the appreciation of the Japanese yen because they are repatriated to fill demand to help in reconstruction.
The appreciation, Dr Yeah said, would result in higher costs in Malaysia.
However, Dr Yeah said there was "offsetting-effect" if the ringgit actually appreciated as well against the US dollars.
"We do see last year the ringgit appreciated by about 10% against the US dollar, so that somewhat helped moderate the imported price inflation.
"But against the Japanese Yen, if it (the Japanese yen) continues (to gain value), then we do see a rise in our cost of production, especially in goods that require import from Japan," said Dr. Yeah.
KUALA LUMPUR, Wednesday 16 March 2011 (Bernama) -- Malaysia stands to benefit from Japan's need to replace lost nuclear energy capacity and reconstruction efforts due to the recent earthquake and tsunami.
In a research note today, ECM Libra said assuming complete substitution of the 11,964 megawatts in all 14 reactors lost with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) thermal plants, Japanese petroleum and LNG import demand for 2011 could rise a further 4.3% and 5.2% respectively from 2010 levels.
It said, mineral fuels, a major Malaysian export item, stands to benefit from Japan's need to replace lost nuclear energy capacity.
According to ECM Libra, Malaysia is also in a good position to take advantage of the looming demand for building materials like timber and steel unleashed by reconstruction efforts.
It noted the destruction of wealth in Japan will probably weigh on purse strings, cutting the amount of disposable income and the propensity to spend on vacations.
"However, Japan accounts for only 1.7% of total tourist arrivals to Malaysia and thus, the impact on the tourism sector is likely to be minimal," it added.
However, over a longer horizon, ECM Libra said the need to redirect funds internally for Japanese to fund reconstruction activities may limit the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to other countries including Malaysia, which is mainly in the manufacturing sector.
CH Williams Tahir & Wong's managing director, Foo Gee Jen, said this year's growth in the prime areas was seen at between 10 and 15% compared with between 20% and 25% previously.
He, however, considered this healthy taking into consideration last year's gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.2%.
"Property prices cannot exceed three times of GDP," he told reporters after a presentation on the local property market outlook for 2011 here today.
A wide gap between the growth in property prices and GDP would make the market more vulnerable to speculations, he said.
Foo said the current high supply of properties was due unsold properties being brought forward after weak sales last year.
The speculation activity, meanwhile, was triggered by fears of property bubble following the government's move last year to impose a maximum lending limit of 70% for third house financing.
"The government announcement to lower the cap on the loan-to-value ratio for third house financing gave a bit of psychological effect on people," he said.
Nevertheless, he said Sungai Buloh, Gombak and Puchong would have the most potential for high price increments, boosted by the proposed mass rapid transit (MRT) project which is scheduled to be completed in 2016.
