Friday 29 Mar 2024
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PETALING JAYA (Nov 2): S P Setia Bhd president and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen applauded the government’s initiatives in Budget 2019 which focuses on the lower and middle-income segments by addressing issues on cost of living, affordable housing, public transportation improvements, education sector upgrades and new technology to spur growth.

“We believe these holistic incentives will improve the economic environment which ultimately enables the property industry to grow and to benefit home buyers in the long run,” Khor told EdgeProp.my.

“We commend the government’s initiatives to make it easier for first time home buyers to own their first home with the low 3.5% interest rate home loan for properties below RM150,000 and the exemption of stamp duty on MOT (Memorandum of Transfer) and loan agreements for properties below RM300,000,” he added.

Khor noted that S P Setia is also encouraged by the government’s proposals to reduce the current property overhang situation and expects the industry to support the commitment made by the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association to reduce the price of unsold properties by 10%.

Meanwhile, the extension of an additional five years on loan payments’ tenure for public servants under the Public Sector Home Financing Board (LPPSA) scheme is an added boost for the property industry as more public servants can now consider owning their own homes, he added.

Nevertheless, Khor expects some impact on higher-end properties with the increase in stamp duty for properties above RM1 million and the 5% increase in the Real Property Gains Tax for properties sold after the fifth year.

“However, with the cooling measures that are already in place for several years now, property buyers are mostly homeowners and hence the impact would be minimal,” he concluded.

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