KOTA KINABALU: The value of the already expensive property market in Sabah is expected to increase in the second quarter of this year following the new price targeting of diesel in Peninsular Malaysia.
Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Board (LPPB), Datuk Masiung Banah, expressed concern that if there is no government enforcement action against the current increase in the price of building materials, then the property market in Sabah could jump between 10 and 15 percent.
According to him, the increase in the price of raw materials was influenced by the sentiment of increased transport costs in the real estate sector, which is not listed as receiving any government cash subsidy.
“The price of building materials in Peninsular Malaysia has increased between 3 and 5 percent. Of course, shipping to Sabah by sea will result in a higher price.
Masiung said that the logistics cost involving the process of changing sea vessels in Port Klang also affected the increase in the price of the raw material,” he said in a statement today.
The Kuamut People’s Representative is currently on a three-day working visit in Kuala Lumpur.
The construction materials cost index released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSIM) in the middle of last month showed that the price of plywood, iron, and cement recorded an increase of up to 1.7 percent.
Masiung said that transportation costs for Sabah and Labuan are higher than in Peninsular Malaysia, and this will also lead to an increase in the price of raw materials in Sabah in the construction sector.
He said that although the Madani government had given assurances that the prices of raw materials in Sabah and Sarawak would not rise due to the targeting of diesel prices in Southeast Malaysia, what is happening now is that the price of goods is not under control.
He urged the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) not only to monitor but also to go to the field to track every complaint.
