‘Property mart to recover on zero-rated GST’
Move to abolish GST to improve buying sentiment, especially among young, first-time buyers, says SP Setia
THE property market, which has been on a downtrend over the past three years, is expected to return to growth following the implementation of zero-rated Goods and Services Tax (GST) from last Friday.
SP Setia Bhd president and chief executive officer Datuk Khor Chap Jen said he hoped the move to abolish GST would help improve buying sentiment, especially among the young and firsttime house buyers.
“The property business has been a bit challenging over the last three years amid a soft market, but we hope this will change following the general election, with buying sentiment rising again.
“We are seeing a decline in property speculation, so property buyers now are those who really want to purchase houses. Demand will always be there but it is now moving towards a stable, gradual increase,” he said after the World Environment
Day celebration, here, yesterday.
Khor said in terms of demographics, many young people were seeking houses and there was demand for landed, residential properties with an average price of RM500,000, despite tighter bank lending requirements seen in the last three years.
“However, we hope this will change as there has been many applications and requests to Bank Negara Malaysia from first-time house buyers for the conditions to be eased,” he said.
This was because the majority of potential house buyers were saddled with other burdens, such as paying off the National Higher Education Fund Corp (PTPTN) and car loans, which made it difficult for them to come up with the housing deposit, he said.
“The government recently declared that PTPTN borrowers could delay repaying their loans until they start earning a monthly income of RM4,000 and we expect this will, to a certain extent, increase the house buyers’ purchasing power,” he said.
Meanwhile, Khor announced that SP Setia would launch a new township development project — Setia Fontaines — in Bertam, Penang, at the end of the year.
The project, spanning 677ha, will feature two residential collections offering single- and double-storey terraced, cluster, semi-detached and bungalow houses.
“Other projects in Johor (Iskandar Malaysia), Selangor and Kuala Lumpur were launched earlier and construction work is ongoing,” he said.
Among SP Setia’s projects in Iskandar Malaysia are Bukit Indah, Eco-Garden, Setia Tropika, Setia Indah, Taman Pelangi and Taman Rinting, undertaken by its subsidiary I&P Group Sdn Bhd.
“Last year, we took over the I&P Group, opening more development space in the Iskandar area. All projects are expected to be fully completed within 10 years. In Johor the highest demand is for landed properties.
“This is because, in general, people are accustomed to landed properties. But, in the future, when Johor becomes more advanced, perhaps the people would accept the idea of living in apartments like in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.