"...we don’t expect the government to withdraw from [investing in affordable housing] overnight. In a positive stance, the incentives and action plans were very limited to very low income people such as those who are earning less than RM2,300 per month to own their first home.”

Budget 2019 has proposed several stamp duty exemptions on transactions by first-time homebuyers.

“Companies have overheads to cover. What is interesting would be how is the government going to monitor these selling prices by the developers?”

“We foresee owners will take this opportunity to dispose of their properties now to avoid the additional taxation of 5%. We foresee more secondary market real estate transactions from now till the end of 2018.”

“This peer-to-peer lending initiative, regulated by the Securities Commission to be made available to first-time house buyers will provide an alternative funding source for promote purchase of homes.”

Existing investors will have to relook at their investment strategy in terms of exiting or take a long-term view of their properties…

“Speculation must be defined when you buy and sell a property in a certain timeframe. But given the tax now, even if you sell the property 100 years later, you still need to pay the tax. So I think the government is not really sending a right signal,” he told EdgeProp.my.

Mah Sing also welcomed the government’s initiative to set up a national homeownership campaign for completed homes to reduce the property overhang issue in Malaysia.

Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) agrees to reduce house prices as much as 10% for houses which are not subject to price control for new projects. This is following SST exemption on construction materials.

The course is expected to start in May next year after approvals from the Education Ministry. The duration of the course is 18 months.