Ibn Taimiyyah’s thought on price regulation in housing affordability

Abstract

Housing affordability concerns are particularly widespread in lower- and middleincome households in most major Malaysian cities, with most of them having trouble purchasing a home. This research therefore seeks to highlight certain related issues of housing affordability and discuss the concept of price regulation according to Ibn Taimiyyah.Thisstudy findsthat one ofthe key challengesraisedisthesensitivityofhousing affordability which is caused by developers' tendency to boost price to maximize profit, resulting in increasing house prices.In terms ofthe price notion, Ibn Taimiyyah places a greater focus on a fair price, which indicates that the worth of an item's price isacceptableandproportionatewiththecommoditiessuppliedatagivenlocationandtime. IbnTaimiyyahdividespricingintotwocategoriesnamelyinjusticeandelementaltyranny. Thus, price regulation is permitted in Islam for the benefit of the welfare state. The originality ofthis studyisithighlightsseveralimportantissuesrelatingtopriceregulation inhousingaffordability that are not widely discussed among researchers. Therefore, it is hoped that it will be able to contribute to the ground knowledge and understanding of the importance of price regulation in housing affordability.