Home mortgages

For the average wage earner in Malaysia, owning their own property, be it a simple apartment, a luxurious condo, or a more spacious landed property, is a huge financial goal. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to own that first home as prices of property continue to rise year on year, particularly in major cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru. Traditionally, banks will only offer home loans of up to 90% of the property price, which means that prospective homebuyers in these cities would need to fork out at least RM18,000 – RM25,000 as initial deposit, which is by no means an easy task for a young person starting out in his or her career. Despite these challenges, many people would still want to own their own home as the cost of renting can be as high as the cost of monthly mortgage repayment. So the logic is, "Why would I pay this amount every month to fund someone else's property when I could have used this money to pay for my own mortgage and eventually owning the home?"

As such, more and more banks are now offering attractive First Time Buyer Mortgage packages. These include waiving the legal fees for the sales and purchase and loan agreements, which can be a substantial amount, depending on the price of the property. Some banks are also willing to offer loans of up to 95% of the property price, thus considerably reducing the initial financial pressure on homebuyers.