Dr. Hamzah, you may also want to check out the concept of the community land trust model in the U.S.  My colleague Kim Skobba and I have done some research on this...the citation is listed below:

• Skobba, K., & Carswell, A.T. (2014). Community land trust homeowners: Past and present housing experiences. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 43(1), 4-17.

It is just a start for you.  Susan Saegert is another researcher that you might want to look for on this issue.  There is also a set of programs in high-priced areas of Europe (specifically London) called equity sharing models.  I do not know if such models exist in Asia, but it is possible.  You can learn more about this concept in Caplin's book from around 1997 called "Housing Partnerships" or something of that nature.

Good luck to you!

Dear Dr. Carswell,

Thank you for your valuable feedback.

I did come across CLT during my literature review, but had to disregard it due to what I perceive as inconsistencies with Malaysia's existing institutional and cultural make up. In my opinion, CLT requires a high degree of social awareness and political support, both (again from my perspective) are quite lacking in Malaysia.

LEHCs are quite popular in the US, and indeed I did use Susan Sargert's work in my literature. We have an existing housing cooperative movement in Malaysia, the operational model of which has sadly become less social-oriented and more capitalism-based.

Although I am quite alone in researching this topic for Malaysian housing, I really hope to be able to promote LEHCs as an alternative to the conventional housing tenures. I believe that the current lack of affordable housing in Malaysia, especially for young people, should be addressed by refraining from feeding the fire i.e. the government should not promote home ownership among those without effective demand.

Sorry for a long reply. Again, thank you for your time, and thanks for your lead.

I have carried out research that may be of interest for you:

(1) Robertsen, K., & Theisen, T. (2011). The Impact of Financial Arrangements and Institutional Form on Housing Prices. Journal of Real Estate Finance & Economics, 42(3), 371-392. doi: 10.1007/s11146-009-9213-z

(2) Eretveit, S. and. Theisen. Theis. (2015). Efficiency and justice in the market for cooperative dwellings. International Real Estate Review, Forthcoming (is on journal web-page).

Dear Dr Theisen.

Thank you very much for your papers. We are very interested in improving the current cooperative housing in my country. I really think there is potential for LEHC, the biggest hurdle would be the fixed mindset of the policymakers and the people who are still enamoured with home ownership. Wish us luck!