KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): Glomac Bhd managing director and CEO Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor hopes to see the extension of the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC), reintroduction of the My First Home scheme, along with the waiver and reduction of of Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) and compliance costs in the Budget 2022. 

He was sharing this at Glomac’s 37th annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday. 

The property developer’s MD said that the wishlist was jointly proposed by the company and the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (REHDA) to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government at a meeting three weeks ago.

“We would like to see an extension of the HOC campaign, which is going to end by the end of this year on Dec 31. We believe that the HOC campaign is the thing that saved the property market because we are still in a very challenging environment,” he said.

Fateh Iskandar also hoped that financial institutions will provide end-financing assistance with low interest and higher margin loans to prospective homebuyers.

Besides that, he suggested that the government should reintroduce the MyHome scheme, which ended in 2017 in Budget 2022. It is hoped that the reintroduced MyHome scheme can provide first time homebuyers a one time grant of RM30,000 to support the purchase of properties up to RM500,000 in value, he added.

He also noted that property transactions should also be given a waiver or reduction in the RPGT, as it has become a major concern amongst buyers and sellers especially in uncertain market conditions such as the last 18 months. Furthermore, by having a waiver or reduction in RPGT, investors will be more inclined to invest in properties, thereby improving the outlook of the industry according to him.

“We hope to see a reduction in compliance and development costs. I hope there is a proper and holistic study to be done on premium charges, quit rent, connectivity costs to infrastructure companies,” said Fateh Iskandar.

At market close on Wednesday, Glomac closed down 0.5 sen or 1.39% to 35.5 sen, giving the property developer a market capitalisation of RM284.03 million.