Skim Rumah Pertamaku Is Gone: What First-Time Buyers Get Through SJKP Instead

Several property guides and calculator sites in 2026 still describe Skim Rumah Pertamaku (SRP) as an active 100% financing scheme for first-time buyers, but it is not. The scheme's own website, srp.com.my, currently returns a message saying the site is closed and not available, and the scheme itself was abolished more than three years ago.

SRP ran from 2011, according to Selangor Journal's account of the scheme's history, until 1 April 2023, when Cagamas, the entity that administered it, confirmed its abolition from that date, a notice Selangor Journal also cites. At the time, SRP targeted first-time buyers with gross monthly household income of up to RM10,000, per the same report, and let them borrow up to 100% of a property's price so they did not need a down payment.

The Ministry of Housing and Local Government said as part of Budget 2023 that SRP would not be continued, but that the buyers it would have served could instead turn to the Skim Jaminan Kredit Perumahan (SJKP) or other financial institutions, a statement tied to the i-Biaya programme the ministry had launched jointly with the Ministry of Finance in 2022, as reported by Berita Harian. For a buyer researching schemes in 2026, this means SJKP, not SRP, is the actual current route into government-backed first-home financing in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

SJKP itself predates SRP's shutdown by well over a decade: it has been running since 2008, according to figures Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Aiman Athirah Sabu gave in the Dewan Rakyat and SAYS reported, which put cumulative approvals at 90,779 borrowers and RM21.5 billion in guaranteed financing as at 13 October 2025. Its eligibility is narrower than SRP's was on income: a Malaysian citizen aged at least 18, buying a first residential property, with gross monthly income capped at RM11,000, a Debt Service Ratio capped at 65%, and a clean credit record free of major arrears in the past two years, per the same reporting. Both fixed-income earners and non-fixed-income earners such as gig workers and the self-employed qualify, and an applicant can apply alone or jointly with a spouse, parent, child or sibling.

On the property side, standard SJKP guarantees cover financing of up to RM500,000 for new, under-construction, subsale or auctioned residential property that the buyer will occupy, while a Madani variant caps the property price lower, at RM300,000, in exchange for a guarantee of up to 120% of the property's value, enough to also help cover legal fees, MRTA premiums and renovation costs, according to the same SAYS report. Applications do not go to SJKP directly; a buyer applies through a participating bank, which runs the actual loan approval.

The scheme's funding has grown alongside demand. Budget 2026 added RM10 billion to SJKP's guarantee ceiling, bringing the cumulative guarantee value since 2008 to RM40 billion, and Housing Minister Nga Kor Ming said the government now guarantees housing financing of up to RM500,000 per applicant covering new, existing or auctioned purchases, according to reporting on the budget allocation. Separately, Bernama reported on 9 October 2026 that Budget 2027 proposes a further RM20 billion in SJKP guarantees aimed at roughly 80,000 first-time buyers, most of them self-employed people without fixed incomes, alongside a proposed extension of the full stamp duty exemption on first homes up to RM500,000 to agreements signed between 1 January 2027 and 31 December 2030; both remain budget proposals rather than enacted law at the time of writing.

Where EPF comes in is not through any rule written specifically for SJKP or the old SRP, but through the restructuring of EPF's own accounts. Account 2, the account first-time buyers have historically drawn on for a down payment, was renamed Akaun Sejahtera effective 11 May 2024, and it now receives 15% of a member's monthly contributions rather than the 30% that used to flow into the old Account 2, with the remainder split between the new Akaun Persaraan and Akaun Fleksibel. A buyer saving up for whatever gap SJKP's guarantee does not cover, since SJKP guarantees the bank's exposure on the loan rather than the buyer's own costs, now builds up that Akaun Sejahtera balance roughly half as fast, by contribution share, as an equivalent buyer would have before May 2024.

For a first-time buyer in Kuala Lumpur or Selangor still planning around SRP, the practical step is to stop budgeting around it: it has not accepted applications since April 2023, and any 2026 guide listing it as open is out of date. Check SJKP eligibility and participating banks directly, and run the current Akaun Sejahtera balance in i-Akaun against however much cash will be needed beyond what SJKP's guarantee covers, rather than assuming the older Account 2 contribution rate still applies. I help first-time buyers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor work out whether SJKP fits their income and property budget before they commit. Message me your numbers and I will check what actually applies today.