BN minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan has been told to resign from his post for failing to control the price of houses, making them "seriously unaffordable" for Malaysians to purchase.

Penang executive councillor on housing Jagdeep Singh Deo said Abdul Rahman, who heads the urban well-being, housing, and local government ministry, should be responsible for the housing situation in the country.

Jagdeep urged the federal government to speed up processes, such as the review of the selling price of units by federal agencies and the implementation of PRIMA affordable homes in Penang.

In addition, he asked for the approval of advertising and development licenses for developers in the state, which has been delayed since last year.

"This is important, given the report by Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) which states that the costs of homes in several states are simply too high, making the units totally unaffordable.

"We are shocked by the KRI report, and the minister responsible for housing must take responsibility for the situation and quit his post," Jagdeep said at a press conference today.

Jagdeep urged the federal government to instruct its development agencies in Penang - JKP Sdn Bhd and Perda - to review their housing costs and ensure that it is within the state’s affordable homes pricing scheme of RM200,000 to RM400,000 on the island, and RM150,000 to RM250,000 for the mainland.

He noted that there were homes by the two federal agencies which cost about RM2 million in Penang and RM1 million in Seberang Perai.

He added that such pricing scheme for units by these federal agencies contributed to the unaffordability of homes referred to in the KRI report.

"A government should not prioritise profits but ensure that the people can afford homes.

"The federal government should set aside the RM150 million that it hopes to profit from the sale of units from the 15 development projects that its agencies hope to build," he added.

Jagdeep was referring to a survey conducted by the Khazanah thinktank on medium-cost houses, which were said to be 4.4 times the annual household income.

Its survey showed that the market for unaffordable houses in the country was three times higher than international standards.