This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 25, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: A new national housing policy is scheduled to be unveiled three months earlier in September, said Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.

The policy, which is being reviewed, will address the definition of affordable housing, the future building concept, size and amenities that the ministry intends to encourage.

Zuraida said the review of the policy is meant to address the current oversupply situation faced by the high-end property market.

“We have overblown high-end housing, which the ministry is going to study and see how we can deal with this. We have to solve this problem with developers ... on how they are going to clear their inventory and how the ministry is going to facilitate,” she told a press conference at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Zuraida acknowledged concerns raised by think tank Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs in a report yesterday, which warned Putrajaya to be ready for the “bubble” in the Malaysian property market to burst as a result of the spectacular growth of the high-end property segment, and the risk that this could lead to an economic crisis in the country.

“We are in the situation where we have to rectify that at this point in time,” she said.