Affordable Housing Issue in Malaysia: Exploring Potentials of Waqf as an

  AFFORDABLE HOUSING ISSUE IN MALAYSIA: EXPLORING POTENTIALS OF WAQF AS AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS

Nor Azizan Che Embi, Salina Kassim, Wan Rohaida Wan Husain, Roslily Ramlee

International Islamic University Malaysia.

ABSTRACT

Housing affordability is important to ensure houses are affordable to everyone across all income categories, whether they are in the low-income, middle-income (M40), or high-income group. Building housing projects on waqf land will help increase the supply of affordable houses, especially targeted at the M40 group, while also addressing the shortage of affordable housing for the M40 cohort. This study analyses public perceptions of house characteristics and relate these factors to affordable housing prices.  The independent variables are location, infrastructure, facilities, size, design and quality.  By applying a quantitative research design, the study aims to understand the relationship between various demanded housing characteristics vis-à-vis the price of the house. A sample of 261 usable responses was analyzed using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). There are five variables found to be significantly contributed to the demand for housing projects on waqf land. The variables are facilities, location, infrastructure, price, and quality. The results show that house size is not statistically significant in influencing the housing price, while location, infrastructure and design of the house are positively significant factors. The study also design few financing models to develop waqf lands. These findings are expected to provide important inputs to the relevant authorities on potential of waqf as an alternative solution to affordable housing issues in Malaysia.