DATA from all agencies related to housing should be collated and streamlined under a single database to counter a mismatch of property supply and demand, says Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) today.

“One of the main reasons for the mismatch of supply and demand is the unavailability of data,” said Rehda president Soam Heng Choon.

He said government agencies such as the Valuation and Property Services Department (Napic), Land Office and local authorities have been collecting data separately.

“There is information all over the place.

“If the government can collate this database for the housing industry stakeholders, it will be a great idea. It will take a while. It won’t be immediate.”

Soam said the Housing and Local Government Ministry, Rehda, Finance Ministry, Napic and Statistics Department have been in discussions about the centralised database.

“We are discussing to see how to put this data under a single platform and who will be the guardian as it is very valuable.”

He said the move will be an extension of the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s decision to place housing agencies, such as Federal Territories Affordable Homes, 1Malaysia Housing Project, 1Malaysia Civil Servants Housing and Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd under one roof.

Earlier this year, Putrajaya launched the National Housing Policy to address the country’s property supply and demand mismatch, and to help low income earners become home owners. – March 14, 2019