BUKU ABSTRAK - Universiti Putra Malaysia

Quality of Life (QoL): Comparison between Honeycomb Housing and Terrace
Houses
Mr. Bukryman Sabri
Nurizan Yahaya, Mazlin Ghazali, Mohd. Peter Davis, Anniz Fazli Ibrahim Bajunid and Muhamat Yawasi
Shahuddin
Faculty of Human Ecology, University Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
+603-8946 7100; bukryman@putra.upm.edu.my
Keywords: Honeycomb housing, alternative concept, kampong in the city
185
Social Sciences
Honeycomb cul-de-sac housing is a new Malaysian town planning concept. This ‘Consumer Impact Survey’ offers a way
of pre-testing the commercial viability of any ‘Honeycomb’ housing project at the early design stage. This study determines the
affordability, preference and number of potential buyers for the ‘Honeycomb Housing’ concept versus equivalent conventional
housing that would normally be built on the same site. The acceptance amongst civil servants and the general public was
overwhelming in consumer surveys using site models and architectural drawings. In five surveys involving 1385 respondents,
54% were ‘passionate’ (strongly liked) for Honeycomb housing compared to only 3% for equivalent conventional Malaysian
housing. Thus, 94% of 1385 respondents preferred Honeycomb houses and apartments compared to 6% for the same priced
normal apartments and terrace houses. Honeycomb housing priced between RM40,000 to RM160,000 was affordable to the
lower 85% of respondents. Honeycomb can supersede terrace housing. Surprisingly, the self selected housing affordability of
the lower 80% of potential home buyers (those who wanted to buy a new home in 1 to 5 years) was at least RM40K up to around
RM160K. This new finding contradicts the Government mandate that 30% of new housing must be in the RM25K to RM45K
range and explains why they are increasingly difficult to sell. Husband and wife are now both working and combining their
incomes for housing loans. Government low-cost housing has outlived its usefulness and is becoming socially unacceptable.
Honeycomb housing has created a new market. Even though the large majority of respondents have already owned their own
home, 72% wanted to buy the new Honeycomb housing compared to only 5% for terrace housing and conventional apartments.
By measuring consumer preferences at a very early stage of housing project, the affordability, cultural acceptability and many
other factors of new houses and their surroundings can be forecasted amongst different sections of the house buying public.