Crowdfunding for waqf lands could boost home ownership for Malaysia’s low-income earners, say industry experts

A construction worker rests on a rooftop at a housing construction project area in Bukit Raja Klang outside Kuala Lumpur February 13, 2014. REUTERS/Samsul Said

KUALA LUMPUR - In the face of a mounting shortage of affordable housing in Malaysia, crowdfunding could unlock the value of vast tracts of land owned by Islamic endowments, say industry experts, who believe this could facilitate home ownership for low-income Malays with substandard credit ratings.

In July last year, Malaysia’s central bank deputy governor highlighted the need for affordable homes for low-income earners. Shaik Abdul Rasheed Abdul Ghaffour estimated the shortage, based on data from 2014, at 960,000 and warned the number could rise to one million units by 2020 if no further measures were taken to increase affordable housing supplies.

Umar Munshi, co-founder of Ethis Ventures and managing director of Shariah-compliant crowdfunding platform Ethis Crowd, believes tapping into lands owned by awqaf, or Islamic endowments, with peer-to-peer (P2P) funding can help increase a greater supply of housing stock and eventually drive down prices.