Budget 2017 wish list

“THE property market has softened” is what has been uttered for the past few months. In view of the upcoming Budget 2017 set to be tabled on Oct 21, City and Country interviewed 14 industry players including consultants and property developers on what they hope to see in the budget.

Among one of the most popular wishes among the respondents include easy financing and packages to assist first-time homebuyers.

“These should be for households with income of RM10,000 and below, houses priced at RM500,000 and below, and properties that are under construction. 

Another possibility is to have the house prices include the interest on mortgage during the construction period. However, these packages should not be applicable to cash buyers. Extend the MyDeposit Scheme with a higher allocation to help more first-time housebuyers address the issue of high entry cost,” said The Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda).

IJM Land Bhd managing director, Edward Chong concurred.

“The government’s effort to promote home-ownership is certainly commendable and it demonstrates that it is taking the issue of housing affordability seriously. However, further support from the government such as increasing the allocation for the MyDeposit Scheme from the current RM200 million and extending the scheme to homes priced up to RM600,000 per unit will push its sustainable home-ownership agenda forward,” said Chong.

Another wish was for the increase in allocation for EPF Account 2 from the current 30% to help purchasers withdraw a bigger amount from the account to help with downpayments.

“This is especially for those who have been granted a lower margin of financing from the banks. Property ownership is also a form of savings and will not negatively impact EPF contributors or their retirement plans,” said Sunway Bhd property division (Malaysia and Singapore) managing director, Sarena Cheah.

“The main challenge faced by the property industry is not the lack of interest from homebuyers but rather the tight lending environment. Suggestions are to tweak the percentage of allocation for Accounts 1 and 2 from 70% to 60% and from 30% to 40% respectively, and raise the withdrawal limit for first-time homebuyers to 20% of the house price,” said UEM Sunrise Bhd managing director and CEO, Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib.

There have also been wishes for the review of the stamp duty rates for properties affected by GST.

“Reduce the stamp duty for sales and purchase agreements and bank loan agreements to lower the cost of property transactions,” said Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents president, Erick Kho.

Try out one of our super tools, the rental yield calculator, here.

This is an excerpt of the report in the Oct 10, 2016 issue of City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia. Subscribe here for your personal copy.