SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government is reviewing the price threshold for home ownership among foreign buyers to address the problem of unsold luxury homes in the state.
Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari (pix) said the matter was currently being discussed by the Selangor Housing Real Estate Board, either to lower the current threshold of RM2 million or to maintain it.
He said Selangor was the state with the highest price threshold of home ownership for foreigners compared to other states.
“We will also study the effects of the move (to lower the price threshold) because at the same time we want to protect house prices and do not want various unwanted side effect as well as social impacts.
“In the next two or three weeks we will reach a decision, either to maintain the existing limit or to reduce it,“ he told reporters after attending the Selangor government department’s monthly assembly, here yesterday.
He said this when asked to comment on the steps to be taken by the Selangor government to overcome the supply overhang of luxury homes in the state.
Amirudin added that he thought the move to lower the price threshold for foreign ownership from RM1 million to RM600,000 as announced in the 2020 Budget was very low.
“In Shenzhen, China, a 1,000 square feet house is priced between RM5 million to RM6 million so the foreign ownership price threshold of RM1 million or RM2 million should not cause any problems among them (foreigners),” he said.
He also said that as a measure to further encourage home ownership by the B40 group, the Selangor government would further strengthen the rent-to-own (RTO) programme. - Bernama
