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House buyers to enjoy 10% discounts, stamp duty exemptions for next 6 months

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This is part of six-month Home Ownership Campaign.

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Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng hopes developers will offer even higher discounts to sell off unsold homes.

PETALING JAYA:
The next six months may be a good time for house buyers to get their dream home, with discounts and exemptions from stamp duty being offered.

Property developers have agreed to offer at least a 10% discount on all unsold properties as part of the ongoing public-private Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) 2019.

During the six-month campaign until June this year, house buyers will also be exempted from stamp duties for residential units priced between RM300,000 and RM1 million.

Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) Malaysia, in partnership with the housing and local government ministry, will be holding a property expo at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) from March 1 to 3 in conjunction with the campaign.

Properties priced between RM150,000 and RM2.5 million will be on offer.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was present at the Rehda press conference, said the government had previously introduced several incentives in the Budget 2019 to make it easier for the bottom 40 (B40) and the middle 40 (M40) groups to own homes.

“This included initiatives such as the RM1 billion affordable housing fund launched two days ago.

“Today, we are announcing the stamp duty waiver for first-time house buyers for houses priced up to RM1 million.

“This campaign with Rehda is aimed at reducing supply overhang that is currently hampering the market, with developers unable to sell their properties.

“This discount by developers, along with the government’s stamp duty waiver, is a win-win formula.”

Present were Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Raja Kamarul Raja Bahrin, Rehda president Soam Heng Choon and HOC organising committee chairman NK Tong.

Lim hoped developers would offer higher discounts.

“I hope it will not be just 10%, but at least 15 to 20%. That will add more oomph to the campaign.”

Stamp duty waiver

The stamp duty waiver, Lim said, is a follow-up action by the government after the sales and services tax (SST) exemption on main building materials such as bricks, cement and sand, as well as construction services.

Lim said these initiatives were aimed at reducing the price of homes.

He announced that there will be an exemption of stamp duty for the purchase of houses priced up to RM1 million by first-time buyers.

He said this exemption also reduces the rate for houses priced up to RM2.5 million.

“For the first RM1 million, stamp duty is exempted. For the balance of the price, a stamp duty of 3% will be charged.”

Previously, house buyers had to pay a stamp duty of 1% for the first RM100,000, 2% for the subsequent RM100,001 to RM500,000, and 3% for the next RM500,001 to RM1 million.

Lim said the stamp duty on loan agreements has also been exempted, as compared with the previous 0.5% rate.

Malaysia has seen an increase in the property supply overhang, which stood at 30,115 in the third quarter of last year. This is a 48% increase from the corresponding period in 2017.

“Based on data by the National Property Information Centre (Napic), this involves RM19.5 billion.

“With this campaign, the PH government hopes to reduce this supply overhang.

“This will have a positive impact on the country’s financial standing and generate healthy economic growth,” Lim said.

Government bodies such as the housing and local government ministry, developers UDA Holdings Berhad, Perbadanan PR1MA, the National Housing Company (SPNB) and equity fund Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) will also take part in the HOC expo.

The expo will be officially launched on March 1 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. In tandem with this expo, similar expos are also being held throughout the country.

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