This study intended to identify the factors and solutions that help first home buyers successfully purchase their first home after the COVID-19 pandemic where the current issues and challenges faced by first home buyers in Malaysia should be investigated. The housing prices are still pricey and the prices are progressively rising every year, as the economy develops. However, household income has not increased in lockstep, which is the primary cause of Malaysians’ inability to purchase a home. Furthermore, during the COVID-19 pandemic, this scenario intensifies as economic containment tactics have a negative impact on the economy and social aspects. This study adopted a quantitative research method where the primary data were collected through online survey. The survey was conducted through internet platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to collect more responses as online survey brings convenience to respondents. 155 feedbacks were collected from the respondents. From the results, the personal income has the highest impact on the affordability of respondents to purchase their first property in Malaysia where the respondents think the government should promote more incentives and initiatives in helping youngsters to purchase their first home. The government should emphasize the housing sector development as this sector is linked with social development significantly in term of citizens’ satisfaction level with the government policies. The outcomes can be referred to by first home buyers when they encounter similar situations as guidance to help them understand the problems. Although, the government has implemented several housing measures, including allocating available homes to qualifying homebuyers but it is insufficient. The outcomes can help the solutions developed by the government and private banking companies in resolving and alleviating the challenges reported by first home buyers in Malaysia.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is an effective approach in reducing the crime rate in residential area which recognized by experts. This approach was introduced in 1960s where the built environment of housing was emphasized initially in first generation CPTED while social dimension was utilized in second generation CPTED. Nowadays, CPTED has improved significantly from the first generation which only emphasize on the physical features of the artificial environment to second generation which consider the social aspects such as mutual trust and sense of belongings among the residents. Since the implementation of CPTED has been long executed, this theory should evolve along with the application of internet technology today as social cohesion has weak physically. People prefer to communicate online during their convenience time. Thus, third generation CPTED which emphasizes the adoption of internet and cloud system should be considered. This study has gone through all generations of CPTED by reviewing relevant literature and intended to develop a third generation CPTED. As a result, the concept of sustainability that consists of environmental, economic, and social dimensions; and connectivity via internet should be added into CPTED on top of the existing tangible and intangible criteria arise from first and second generation CPTED. The outcome of this article can be made as the foundation of the creating of third generation CPTED which can help to reduce crime without huge initial, implementation and maintenance cost to the residents.

The crime rate in Malaysia in increasing in every year, especially in the high-density residential area. This has brought the increase of awareness and concern on the security issues in the residential area from the residents. Thus, secure homes’ concept seems to become a dominant feature of Malaysian housing development projects today as it can improve the security criteria. However, people are still living in the fear of crime, especially in the urban areas due to the ineffectiveness of the crime prevention approaches. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the current practices of secure homes’ development and to evaluate their impacts. 129 relevant articles published between 2011 to 2020 have been collected to go through systematic literature review. The results show publications concerning on secure homes is having an exponential growth. Next, the findings showed that there are tangible criteria and intangible criteria that can reduce the crime rate significantly. The tangible criteria are surveillance, access control, territoriality and target hardening while the intangible criteria include the sense of community, and management and maintenance. The findings of this study further show that there were enough practical and theoretical proofs attesting to the desirability of secure homes as a veritable tool in residential neighborhood crime prevention. The results of this study can be used as the fundamental to develop a more effective and efficient crime prevention approach that not only apply the conventional approach but consider integrating current technologies which can greatly reduce the fear of crime.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) education is gaining more attention from various parties such as government, industry, and academicians. Many universities have integrated BIM into their curricula by using various approaches and teaching methods, but there is no commonly accepted approach to teaching BIM in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) programs. This research aims to identify the level of BIM literacy among students in higher education institutions and its correlation with the components of BIM learning and the outcomes of BIM learning progress. A quantitative method was adopted where Partial Least Square -Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis was used to analyze the data. Questionnaires were distributed to the respondents for data collection. A total of 33 respondents were chosen, consisting of second-year undergraduate Construction Management students at Universiti Sains Malaysia. The results were analyzed by using SPSS and SmartPLS 3. SPSS was used to study the correlation between variables, whereas SmartPLS was used to conduct other tests such as the path coefficient, bootstrapping, coefficient of determination (R-squared), effect size (F-squared), collinearity statistics (VIF), inner and outer VIF value, outer loading and outer weights. From the result findings, it was found that the respondents have less knowledge of the BIM software. The respondents also felt neutral toward improving their CGPA through BIM courses. Results showed that 3D parametric modeling and outcomes of BIM learning are correlated. For future research, the focus can be shifted to other BIM competencies, such as the managerial, functional, technical, and support aspects of BIM.

Malaysia has developed rapidly, and more youngsters have moved to urban areas to seek better working opportunities. However, the competition in cities is intense. Those with low income and intending to stay in urban areas must purchase low-cost houses as their shelters. Low-cost houses often come with lower specifications due to the limitations that arise from their prices. This caused more crimes happened in these high-density and low-security-level areas. Thus, improving the security criteria to protect the residents at a low cost is necessary to reduce their fear of crime and improve the security level. This study has collected opinions from residents on the preferences of security criteria from several in-depth interviews. These respondents were selected based on a convenience sampling method in three main cities in Malaysia such as Kuala Lumpur, Pulau Pinang, and Johor Bahru, and responded that respondents are the ones who feel the limitations of low-cost housing. The results confirm that tangible criteria, such as surveillance, access control, territoriality, and target hardening, and intangible criteria, such as sense of community, management, and maintenance, are worth to be applied. The residents of low-cost housing prefer these criteria as the initial cost and maintenance cost for these criteria is comparably lower, which is more affordable for the low-income group. The results can be the foundation of future secure low-cost residentials planning by property developers and authorities.