State executive councillor Phee Boon Poh said many applicants’ contact numbers were unreachable while others provided their old mailing addresses.

Phee gave an example of the Jiran Residensi project in Butterworth, where a 750 sq ft low-medium cost apartment goes for RM72,500.

He said despite having just 353 units available, the state has given out offer letters to 779 applicants who met requirements.

But he said many units were now not taken.

“The main reason is because they (applicants) are out of reach,” he said.

He said in another affordable housing project, only 31 out of 61 successful applicants were reachable.

“It is sad to see many applicants miss the golden opportunity to own a home,” he said, adding that some successful applicants also face problems in getting loan approvals.

“We also hope that banks will give some leeway to applicants applying for a loan,” he added.

Phee urged applicants to update their personal details only on erumah.penang.gov.my to allow the government to contact them.

According to state Housing committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo, about 28,000 homes have been built in Penang since 2008, with another 24,000 in the process of being built.

When contacted, he said 40,000 units have been approved to be built and a total of 97,000 are in the pipeline.

Currently, the capped prices of properties under the “affordable homes” category on the island are RM150,000 for a unit measuring 750 sq ft, RM250,000 (800 sq ft) and RM300,000 (900 sq ft).

On mainland Seberang Perai, the prices are capped at RM150,000 (750 sq ft), RM 200,000 (800 sq ft) and RM250,000 (900 sq ft).

As for the low-cost and low-medium-cost categories, the prices of homes are set at RM42,000 (650 sq ft) and RM72,500 (700 sq ft).