House ownership is no longer affordable to many common folks simply because the price is beyond the reach. One of the recent proposal to make house ownership affordable is by prolonging the loan repayment tenure up to 50 or even 60 years, making the monthly payment reduced. Although this proposal might provide people with house ownership, but it has certain issues both economically and socially. Among the problems that will arise are burden of paying the loan will be passed to children who may not economically or mentally prepared for such a responsibility. Based the mathematic or calculation of the loan repayment it seems that the issue of owning of the house is to a large extent passed only to the owner or co-owners who has to pay the monthly instalments through family "generation". The government let alone the banks and the property developers have little participation in solving this issue. In fact the latter two tremendously benefitted from this proposal of generational housing loan. What ever the solution that is going to be tabled or proposed, it has to be fair and borne by all, and not only one sided. The government house ownership policies hitherto seem not able to bring the house price down, but in fact to the contrary. Simply because the focus is mainly to protect the interest of the developer and banks. It is true and not to deny that certain government housing projects have been initiated to help people from lower income group to own house. But these projects do not significantly impact the house price because of other counter policies that kept the house price high at the same time. Another aspect that is has a close relation to house ownership in Malaysia is the culture which needs to be changed. With the rise of gig and financial technology, the aims are now moving from ownership to accessibility. This has started to impact car ownership where now more people are using e-hailing service for mobility. Although house is not the same with car, the same concept or idea of accessibility for such a service can be remodeled and by this everyone or at least most of common folks will have the place to stay without any unnecessary burden of housing loan. But culture and habits are hard.
While financial assistance from parents can certainly make buying a home more achievable, it's also important to consider long-term affordability, repayment responsibilities, and protecting everyone's financial security. That's why I believe discussions like this are so valuable they encourage people to think beyond just getting approved for a loan and instead focus on sustainable homeownership. For anyone already paying a mortgage, exploring options like OCBC housing loan refinance could also be worth considering, especially if it helps reduce monthly repayments or offers more suitable loan terms as financial circumstances change. Every family's situation is unique, so understanding all available financing and refinancing options before making a decision can make a significant difference in the long run.
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