DAILY EXPRESS. 25TTH FEBRUARY: The government has been urged to provide loan guarantees for buyers of second-hand homes, and to review the stamp duty on transfer of property to children or grandchildren.
National House Buyers’ Association secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said a credit guarantee scheme announced in the federal budget today should not just cover new affordable houses.
Chang said second-hand homes – which make up what is known as the secondary market – were in higher demand compared to newly-built homes, purchased directly from developers.
Some buyers do not invest in new housing projects as they feared it would be abandoned. “So they look at the secondary market or sub-sale houses where the houses are already built,” he told FMT.
The prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, had announced today that RM5 million will be allocated for a scheme by which 20,000 borrowers without a fixed income could purchase their first homes.
Chang criticised the government’s move to impose an exemption for stamp duty on property transferred to family members calling it a backward step.
People would still pay a hefty sum, even though duty is exempted for the first one million ringgit.
The previous government had imposed a flat rate of RM10 for family transfers.
For a property worth RM2.5 million, the duty would come close to RM30,000, he said.
He hoped the government would revive the nominal stamp duty of RM10 set by the previous government.
Property group Mah Sing Group Bhd said home buyers could save up to up to RM15,000 from a 75% discount on stamp duty for homes valued at RM500,000 to RM1 million.
The waiver of stamp duties for homes costing below RM500,000 would pique the interest of first-time home buyers in the middle to upper income group as well as those who are looking to upgrade, said Mah Sing boss Leong Hoy Kum.
He called for a full exemption of duty for the transfer of properties valued at up to RM1 million to children or grandchildren.