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“I am neither disappointed nor euphoric (about the budget). This is because I did not expect much from the beginning as the market is rather slow at the moment.”

PR1MA Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Eddy Chen: The revision is a good move, the only thing is that it has to be location-based. Because in some states such as Kelantan, Terengganu and Perak, a lot of the properties are below RM600,000, which means there are not many choices for foreign buyers to acquire.

“The real issue here is the collection of maintenance charges, which has been plaguing the private owned flats and apartments for a very long time and thus affected the maintenance of these buildings.”

The RM85 million allocation for the Causeway and Second Link would be a boon to Johor that would result in more investment in Johor, and higher demand for property.

He also commended the proposal to reduce the foreign home ownership threshold for condominiums and apartments in urban areas to RM600,000.

“MBAM appeals to the government to quickly tender out and implement the projects so that the economic multipliers effect for the projects can be quickly felt by all the industry stakeholders.” 
 

“The move could possibly bring an upward revision of market prices for those condominiums and apartments that are currently fetching between RM500,000 to RM600,000 in some places in Penang,” said Henry Butcher Malaysia (Penang) Asset Valuation executive vice-president for asset valuation Shawn Ong.

“The revision will allow sellers to pay lower RPGT. However, we hope continuous improvements to the RPGT policy can be considered to boost more interest and activities in the secondary property market, as many buyers are looking to upgrade after disposing their older units.”

What Budget 2020 needs or lacks, according to him, is a new strategy on taxation.

The concern is that reducing the threshold will allow foreigners to compete with local buyers, leading to pressure on house prices.