THE SUN DAILY. 5TH OCTOBER: Property developer LBS Bina Group has outlined several proposals to stimulate the local housing market in its Budget 2022 wishlist.
a) Permanent implementation of the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC)
he government will consider a permanent implementation of the HOC along with full stamp duty exemption for up to the first RM1 million of the property’s purchase price. This will ensure the entire supply chain of the construction and property development industry will continue to carry on without disruption while buying sentiment remains.
b) Relaxation of requirements for Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme
While the group welcomes the relaunch of the MM2H programme, the recent revisions to the requirements for new applicants may be too stringent and instead deter foreigners from choosing to work and live in Malaysia. LBS hopes the government will consider suggestions on the newly revised MM2H programme criteria:
qualifying minimum income for an applicant back to the original RM10,000 per month;
ii) reduce the minimum amount of liquid assets to RM500,000 from RM1.5 million;
iii) reduce the minimum amount of fixed deposits in a Malaysian bank account to RM300,000 from RM1 million; and the duration of the MM2H pass at 10 years.
Believes these proposals are sufficiently stringent to attract skilled foreign nationals and ensure the continued success of the MM2H programme.
c) Incentives for adoption of Industrialised Building System (IBS)
Advocates the usage of IBS, which has been proven to reduce construction time and cost without compromising on housing quality.
LBS applauds the government’s initiatives in encouraging the use of IBS by providing investment tax allowances of 60% on qualifying capital expenditure incurred within five years, which can be offset against up to 70% of the statutory income of the company. The group however hopes the government will consider extending these tax incentives to include existing IBS players, rather than ring-fence the incentives to new players only.
With this, the group will be able to channel the further savings to facilitate expansion and increase their research and development into growing its use of IBS technology.
d) Reduction in compliance costs
LBS wishes for the government to reduce compliance costs borne by developers for example, reducing development charges, land conversion premiums or strata title application. Any savings from these measures will be hugely beneficial and can be passed on to home buyers via a more affordable pricing point.
e) Incentives to counter the rising cost of materials
LBS hopes the government will consider implementing a levy to reduce costs or introduce strict control prices over building materials. LBS believes this will ensure that developers do not pass on the increased cost of materials to homeowners.
f) Reduction in minimum threshold for foreign property ownership
The current property overhang situation is a concern for developers. To ease this, the group hopes that the current price threshold for foreigners seeking to buy a property in Malaysia be reduced to RM500,000 for all states. This enables property developers with high unsold inventories to free up cash flow for other property developments.
g) Waiver of levy on foreign labour in the construction sector
LBS hopes the government will consider providing a waiver on the levy for foreign labour. With this, it will help reduce the construction cost which in turn will reduce the development cost of properties, thus making homes more affordable.