Rethinking The Housing Delivery Concept in Malaysia:Build Then Sell (BTS) Versus Sale Then Build(STB)

摘要

Malaysia has long practising the concept of Sell-then-Build in delivering new houses. The practise has been well accepted where the buyers are bound to share the responsibility to the housing development upon the signing the Sal e and Purchase Agreement. The buyers ease the developers financially through progress payments as the development progress. Despite the arrangements, the buyers seldom become the victims as developers went into difficulties. The buyers are normally left waiting for the unit and the outstanding interest payment. To better protect the buyer’s interest, the Build Then Sell (BTS) concept has been introduced by the government where housing developers have to complete a housing project before selling it to buyers. The concept is different from the current conventional concept of Sell Then Build (STB). This paper analyses the existing methods of housing delivery in Malaysia. it further reviews the concept of build-then sale (BTS) and efforts made by government to promote the implementation of the concept in improving the delivery of housing in Malaysia. The paper shows that incentives provided failed to encourage the developers to adopt BTS. Despite preventing housing projects from being abandoned, the developers argue the system will burden the developer financially and may result in higher selling prices. The analysis shows that many agree that it is time to ensure only financially capable developers should be in business and the matter can only be resolved if developers are required by law to adopt the build-then-sell model.