David Thien 
Sabah underlines its credentials as one of states with the highest cost of living in Malaysia, at the end of the first decade of the 21st century as of 2010, by topping the National House Price Index of Malaysia.
While housing prices are not factored into the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for inflation, a substantial portion of income of the people in Sabah go towards providing a roof over their heads besides food and transportation.
Sabah recorded the highest All House Price Index compared to other states and the federal territories in Malaysia.
Sabah’s All House Price Index increased rapidly to 217.2 in 2010 from 132.5 in 2006, a stiff hike of up to 63.9 percent in just four years.
Enough reasons were reported in the past, for this phenomenon from appreciating building material, labour, land, bureaucracy levies to planters’ and foreign funds pumped into real estate investments, profiteering, speculation etc.
Taking the cake for Sabah are the penthouses of a future high rise development available by invitation only for RM24 million each to view the second most beautiful sunset in the world as Sabah’s sunset is fondly touted by our Tourism Minister.
In comparison, the Malaysian All House Price Index was recorded at 286.18, up 6.75 percent from 2009.
Prime of Malaysia’s Semi-detached homes appreciated the most up by 7.58 percent year-on-year, followed by Detached homes up 7.24 percent, Terraced homes up 6.63 percent and High-rise strata homes up 6.16 percent.
Many well-to-do parents are buying homes for some of their children in Sabah. These are the lucky kids of the 21st century, like a fresh young lawyer whose developer parents presented him with a Mercedes Benz sport car for his birthday.
The fact remains that the income disparity gap is widening between the super rich and the lower income groups with the latter struggling to own homes.
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