Owners’ perception towards sustainable housing affordability in Kuching, Sarawak

Since late 1980s, Malaysia has been experiencing accelerated development in its housing sector as a result of rapid urbanisation and economic growth. A similar trend has prevailed in Sarawak where housing has thrived owing to growing market and active supply-demand dynamics. However, the cosmic increase in housing prices since 2012 has raised serious concerns among researchers with regard to how sustainable housing is in this country. Price spiral has led to an acute shortage of housing affordable to the middle-income group. Therefore, alternatives for dealing with housing affordability have to be worked on in steering the future direction of housing in the country. In dealing with such issue, a set of criteria encompassing social, economic and environmental influences would need to be identified and evaluated to determine the best alternative or option available for any particular area. A study was conducted on the city of Kuching and its hinterland. COPRAS was used. The results indicate that an area with a high degree of utility conforms best to sustainable housing affordability while the area with a lower degree of utility performs poorly in this respect. The originality of this research has contributed to new literature in dealing with sustainable housing affordability in Malaysia, particularly in the state of Sarawak.