Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association of Malaysia (Rehda) wants banks to look into financing the secondhand houses and renovation costs.

Rehda patron, Datuk Ng Seing Liong, said there were many secondhand houses that were actually more affordable compared to the new houses within the same area.

"Furthermore, for the secondhand houses, we don't need to pay Goods and Services Tax (GST)... but the banks are not really coming forward to lend," he told Bernama on Thursday.

Ng was a speaker for a session titled, "Impact of GST on Property-related Industries", at the "National GST Conference 2014" here.

The session was moderated by Bernama general manager, Datuk Yong Soo Heong.

"When you buy a secondhand house, you need to renovate it, and Rehda is now telling to the banks to look into this area to finance the secondhand houses plus the renovation costs," he said.

The two-day conference, which ends on Friday, is jointly organised by Malaysia's national news agency Bernama and Tax Advisory And Management Services Sdn Bhd.