1 March: KUALA LUMPUR. First-time homebuyers will profit from Budget 2023’s emphasis on home ownership, and it will encourage the growth of affordable housing, according to Juwai IQI.
Co-founder and company CEO Kashif Ansari said in a statement that the updated budget has a number of initiatives that, when combined, will cost more than RM2.2 billion to be spent on enhancing the quality of the current housing stock, either through refurbishment and repairs or new construction.
“We support the government’s intentions to improve housing supply,” Khasif said, adding that the actions will lead to the construction of more than 35,000 new homes for Malaysians with lower incomes and 7,000 for the armed services.
The different activities include creating and remodelling housing for military personnel as well as renovating homes in rural areas and repairing lifts in affordable strata housing.
New monies have also been allocated for the Malaysian Public Housing Projects, the Rumah Mesra Rakyat Program, and the People’s Housing Programme (PPR).
Khasif added that removing the requirement for buyers to pay stamp duty takes care of another issue with home ownership.
The stamp duty exemption is crucial, he said, as these fees lower buyers’ purchasing power and deter them from downsizing or upgrading.
The extension of the full stamp duty exemption for homes up to RM500,000 till the end of 2025 has been determined by the government to be in the best interests of the economy.
For homes worth up to RM1 million, the stamp duty exemption rate would be enhanced by 50% to 75%.
Regarding home credit guarantees for gig workers, he said that the budget for helping them get mortgages had been increased to 20,000 borrowers and RM5 billion, according to the statement.
This, he argued, is crucial. Homeownership, which is “the safest and most established approach of growing wealth and security,” would not be possible without this assistance. According to him, an increasing percentage of gig workers will be excluded from the property market.
“Malaysia has more than four million gig workers, most of whom do not get a regular salary. Because of this, it is difficult for them to get a conventional mortgage from a bank to purchase a home, according to Khasif.
Budgetary housing initiatives, therefore, contribute to some market stability but do little to alter the current tendencies.
He added that pricing and stock that hasn’t been sold will both rise over the course of the year. Its prognosis for 2023 remains the same, with transitional activity in the residential sector expected to strengthen with an increase of 3% this year.
As both domestic and foreign buyers visit show suites again, “developers with attractive new projects will successfully launch them,” he said. The Bernama
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Source: MalayMail
