FREE sales and purchase agreements (S&P) and 10% discounts will be offered at a expo in March that Putrajaya and developers hope will help clear the overhang in unsold housing properties.

Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said 180 housing developers will put up for sale 22,000 units, with a total asset value of around RM22.5 billion.

“Expect the sales price to have at least a 10% discount. S&P will be free on that day,” she said at the launch of the National Housing Policy 2018-2025 in Bukit Kiara today.

“We have agreed with the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) as well as with developers, to list the unsold units, overhang units, with good discounts to make it affordable for people to buy them.”

Nearly a quarter of the houses on sale at the expo will be low-cost units worth under RM300,000, she said.

The expo will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

It was reported late last year that there were 30,115 unsold residential units worth RM19.54 billion as of September 30, according to the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH).

This was an increase  48% in unsold units compared to the year before.

Unsold properties have plagued the Malaysian real estate scene for years and are most serious in Johor, Selangor and Penang.

An overhang is defined as completed units that remain unsold nine months after launching and after receiving a certificate of fitness for occupancy. – January 28, 2019.