Azmin: Up to state govts to decide on threshold

IT is up to each state government to decide the threshold along with conditions for foreigners to buy high-rise units, says Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.

He acknowledged the Budget 2020 announcement on lowering the threshold in urban areas for foreign ownership from RM1mil to RM600,000 had led to concerns among locals.

“We will continue to debate it in Parliament and the Finance Ministry will certainly look into the issue because there are a lot of concerns from the public on the proposal,” he told reporters in Parliament lobby yesterday.

He pointed out the Malaysia My Second Home programme allowed foreign property ownership, subject to conditions set by the respective state authorities.

This includes the price threshold of foreign ownership of property.

“Today, we see that a few states have announced that they will look into the matter but ultimately it is up to the state authorities to decide,” Azmin added.

On Monday, Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari announced the state was reviewing the matter to address the problem of unsold luxury housing units in the state.

This was necessary, he said, because Selangor had the highest price threshold of RM2mil for foreigners to own property compared to other states.

Shaari said the review would also consider the impact on a lower threshold.

Meanwhile, when met in the Parliament lobby, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng repeated the lower threshold was meant only for current unsold high-rise units until the end of next year.

Lim stressed that the threshold was not applicable for landed properties and new developments.