KUCHING: The Sarawak Government is planning to build 20,000 units of affordable housing under the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP), spanning from 2026 to 2030, as part of its efforts to address housing imbalances.

Sarawak Deputy Premier, Datuk Amar Professor Dr Sim Kui Hian, said this initiative is the state’s response to the significant mismatch between the number of existing housing units and the number of households in Sarawak.

“According to official statistics from 2023, Sarawak had 770,000 housing units, while the number of Heads of Households stood at just 630,000.

“This shows an excess of around 140,000 housing units, largely due to rural-to-urban migration and the purchase of homes for investment purposes,” he explained.

He made these remarks during the 2025 Azmi Real Estate Annual Gala Dinner held at a prominent hotel here on Saturday.

Datuk Amar Dr Sim, who also serves as the Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government Sarawak, said the state government continues to make every effort to provide affordable housing for its people.

“Under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), we only managed to build 3,000 units.

“But under the 13MP, from next year until 2030, the Sarawak Economic Planning Unit (EPU) is proposing a total of 20,000 units. That’s a jump from 3,000 to 20,000,” he said.

He further noted that in line with efforts to boost homeownership among Sarawakians, the state government has introduced several initiatives.

Among them is the provision of a RM10,000 deposit for first-time homebuyers, as well as housing loans with interest rates as low as 1 per cent for the B40 group.

These loans are offered through the state-owned financial institution, Mutiara Mortgage and Credit, for the purchase of homes priced below RM300,000. -UKASnews