Rehda: Incentives will boost affordable sector
KUALA LUMPUR: The incentives announced in the 2017 Budget will give the much needed boost to the property sector towards achieving the target of housing the nation, said Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda).
Its president, Datuk Seri FD Iskandar, said efforts by the government in encouraging home ownership among first-time homebuyers would help spur growth of the property sector, particularly the affordable segment.
“The programmes for affordable housing an- nounced in the budget will hopefully nudge the rakyat in taking the first step towards home ownership,” he said here yesterday.
The incentives announced yesterday included 100 per cent stamp duty exemption for houses below RM300,000 and special end-financing scheme for Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia (PR1MA)houses.
The end-financing scheme will provide buyers with financing from 90 to 100 per cent.
Iskandar urged the government to also include private developers in the scheme to encourage home ownership. On the stamp duty exemption, Rehda hoped the government would extend the stamp duty waiver for all properties of higher price threshold below the RM500,000 mark.
“We are not asking for the luxury ones, but in big cities, we can hardly find houses priced below RM300,000,” he said.
To boost the supply of affordable homes in urban areas, he hoped the government would consider expanding the incentives of opening up government land in strategic locations to private developers as well.
“Given the more affordable land price by the government, we are also happy to work with GLCs or PR1MA in areas where they want to take the lead in developing affordable homes. As you know, we have members from Perlis all the way to Sabah and Sarawak. We have the local content and expertise,” he said.
Rehda also welcomed other government’s incentives to boost property ownership, which included an