HOMEBUYERS

homes for Malaysians.

Former Transport Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Ramon Navaratnam said the budget would benefit the low-income group.

“People should be happy that priority is given to the poor and the underprivileged.”

Sunway University Business School economics professor Dr Yeah Kim Leng said affordable housing was one of the critical concerns of the people, besides the rising cost of living.

“An expanded allocation and focus to provide more affordable housing schemes will be welcomed by the people,” he said, adding that the private sector should get more incentives to develop more affordable houses.

Knight Frank Malaysia managing director Sarkunan Subramaniam said the 2018 Budget 2018 was a step in the right direction, with the implementation of housing schemes.

“Exemption on tax rental is good to encourage people to rent out their houses.”

Sarkunan said the tax incentive would boost investments in the property market and provide a good incentive to the people.

Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda) president Datuk Seri FD Iskandar said state governments should emulate the spirit behind the national budget that focused on providing people with homes priced between RM35,000 and RM42,000.

“State governments should follow the Federal Government’s stance. We can see that the government is serious in providing homes for those in B40 and M40 groups.

“Private developers will assist in the development of affordable homes. We are open to engaging with relevant parties and we will give our feedback.”

He thanked the government for the incentives provided, specifically for the industry, and for fulfilling three out of eight Rehda’s wishes, which were the Step-Up Financing Scheme, MyDeposit Scheme and the GST relief.

He said Rehda was grateful to the government for taking heed of its call to extend the Step Up Financing Scheme that was introduced to 1Malaysia People’s Housing Programme (PR1MA) last year, to include more than 1,400 private developers to assist homebuyers

He commended the government for continuing to allocate funds for the MyDeposit Scheme.

“Although limited to 2,000 houses, the scheme will encourage the development of affordable housing. We hope the government will consider providing more allocations to benefit more people.”