Jagdeep: Penang property prices saw the highest reduction in Malaysia

Penang has recorded the highest reduction of property prices in the country - thanks to cooling measures imposed by the state government since 2013, said state exco Jagdeep Singh Deo today.

Jagdeep, who is state executive councillor in charge of housing, town and country planning, said property prices in the state have "stabilised" and is currently affordable.

He cited statistics from the National Property Information Centre (Napic), which he said, showed that property prices have reduced by 3.2 percent in the state, compared to 0.7 percent in other states.

"The average price of houses now is between RM388,319 and RM400,994," said the DAP Dato Keramat assemblyperson, while winding up the debate at the state assembly sitting.

Critics have slammed Penang for allowing speculations, which they said drove property prices up, making them unaffordable to most Penangites.

During the debate session, Shah Headan Ayub Hussain Shah (BN – Teluk Bahang) urged the state government to limit foreign purchases of property to certain tourist and industrial areas, so there would be better control of supply and demand.

Refuting this, Jagdeep said 80 percent of transactions in Penang involved properties below RM500,000, where 23 percent involves properties priced RM100,000 and below, 20 percent transacted are between RM100,001 and RM200,000, and 33 percent involves units between RM200,001 and RM500,000.

Cooling measures include a 10 year moratorium on the subsequent sale of low (RM42,000) and low medium cost (RM72,000) housing units, and five years for affordable housing (maximum RM300).

Another cooling off measure includes the imposition of a 3 percent approval fee for purchases by foreigners and a 2 percent approval fee upon vendors for transactions executed within 3 years of purchase.

Further to this is a limit on foreigners’s purchases, namely properties not less than RM2 million (landed) and RM1 million (apartment) on the island, and RM1 million (landed and apartment) on the mainland.- Mkini