Minister Lim Guan Eng has announced numerous measures for the property sector in Budget 2019 targeting to encourage homeownership, especially for the first-time buyers.
According to the announcement made by Minister Lim, a total of RM1.5 billion has been allocated by the government to be spent on the affordable housing segment by way of the People’s Housing Programme (PPR), Malaysia Civil Servants Housing Programme (PPAM), 1Malaysia People’s Housing (PR1MA) and Syarikat Perumahan Nasional Bhd (SPNB).
Members of the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association Malaysia (REHDA) have also agreed to make adjustments aiming to lower the prices of new projects by 10%, following the exemption of the sales and service tax (SST) on basic construction material.
The government is also streamlining the real property gains tax (RPGT) chargeable on profits made from the disposal of property and shares in property companies in the sixth and following years.
The RPGT will be increased to 10% from 5% previously, for companies, non-citizens and non-permanent residence (PR) holders, while citizens and PR holders will see RPGT raised to 5% from zero previously.
However, RPGT is exempted for land, low-cost housing, medium-cost housing and affordable housing priced under RM200,000.
First time home buyers also get an exemption on stamp duty for properties priced between RM300,000 and RM1 million, for a limited period of six months starting Jan 1, 2019, which forms part of the National Home Ownership Campaign where developers will offer 10% discounts on existing unsold properties.
While the stamp duty for the sale of properties priced more than RM1 million will be raised to 4% from 3%, there is a two-year exemption for houses priced up to RM500,000, on the first RM300,000.
