More perks for My First Home Scheme

PETALING JAYA: The government is expected to announce more measures for the affordable housing segment in Budget 2015 including the return of the full loan facility under the My First Home Scheme, said MIDF Research.
"We anticipate some of the measures introduced in prior years to make a comeback (full loan facility under My First Home Scheme) or extended (50% exemption in stamp duty for first-time buyers of houses worth RM400,000 and below) and broadened (better incentive to encourage private developer participation to build low to medium cost properties, and more 1Malaysia People's Housing Scheme/People's Housing Programme units built in 2015)," its analyst Annuar Rahman said in a report yesterday.
He said further relief targeted at first-home buyers such as zero-rated goods and services tax (GST) for properties worth RM400,000 and below as lobbied by the Real Estate & Housing Developers Association Malaysia, can be expected.
"The floor price of properties accessible to foreigners could also be raised and providing cheaper funding for first-time buyers. We are not expecting another round of hike in real property gains tax," he added.
Annuar said companies with a good mix of medium-to-low value property such as Mah Sing Group Bhd, IJM Land Bhd and LBS Bina Group Bhd would benefit while UEM Sunrise Bhd could also benefit to a lesser extent, from their product mix and landbank sale.
However, this could be a setback for companies with sizeable exposure to high-end properties such as E&O Property Development Bhd, SP Setia Bhd and Sunway Bhd.
"We are currently neutral on the sector as we see the GST imposition may lead to some reduction in disposable income and dampen consumer sentiments in the near term. However, we think this could be offset by the government's targeted measures aforementioned while longer term prospects remains positive against the positive outlook for the domestic economy," he said.
Budget 2015, which will be tabled today, comes just after a rationalisation in petrol subsidy and before the GST imposition on April 1, 2015.