Of taxes, foreigners and rates

Publication: NST

Date of publication: Sep 7, 2012

Section heading: Real Estate Decor

Page number: 003

Byline / Author: Compiled by Jan Yong; Khairul Khalid; Khairie Hisyam Aliman

  

RELAXPOLICIES: See Kok Loong, director of Metro Homes Sdn Bhd dishes out some sound ideas for a more vibrant property market.

* Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) rate should remain the same.

* Introduce Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 4 per cent as soon as possible.

* Reduce corporate income tax and personal income tax rate to stay competitive with Hong Kong and Singapore.

* Allow more foreigners to come to Malaysia to work, stay, live and tour. Allow easy employment permit for high level employment like RM10K and above and in selected industries such as services. Only with a large pool of expatriates will our rental market for office and high end condominium move.

* Relax the MM2H (Malaysia My 2nd Home) policy and make it more efficient. The Government should promote it more as it is a good policy and is one of the ways to bring in quality foreigners to stay in Malaysia.

* Implement stamp duty waiver for RM500K and below for affordable home ownership for Malaysians.

* Property purchase by foreigners should be restricted to RM1 million and above for major cities like KL, Penang, Johor, Kota Kinabalu etc so as to avoid affecting local buyers.

* Allow maximum loan for those eligible who buy property below RM 500,000. Offer low interest rates for this category as well because the current banking system offers lower rates for bigger loans which is not fair to first home buyer.

* Allocate more prime land for affordable landed housing in the range of RM300K-500K.

* Build better public infrastructure and public transportation to allow residents to stay outside the city in places like Nilai, Seremban, Rawang etc.

* Bring in quality foreign buyers to support the high-end property market. With the demand, it will create jobs and opportunity, and result in a more balanced market where yield and capital appreciation are reasonable.