‘NO CLASS’ ZURAIDA RUSHES TO BLAME GUAN ENG FOR LOWERING THRESHOLD FOR FOREIGNER OWNERSHIP OF EXISTING UNSOLD CONDO UNITS – EVEN THOUGH SHE HERSELF WANTS TO SELL M’SIAN PROPERTIES WITH RESIDENCY VISAS UNDER MM2H PLANS

PETALING JAYA – The government’s proposed lower threshhold for foreigners to buy property was not put forward by the housing ministry but came from the finance ministry, housing minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said today.

“Many people are not clear about it, thinking that it is under the housing and local government ministry but that policy is not from the ministry,” she was quoted as saying.

Zuraida said her ministry’s focus was only on more attractive packages under the MySecond Home Scheme for foreigners to buy luxury properties.

She said property price levels for foreigners used to be set by the Economic Planning Unit “but now the announcement is made by the finance ministry”, she said. “This is a proposal from the finance ministry… I will refer to the finance ministry to review and reconsider the matter if there is a necessity,” she said, according to Malaysiakini.

The threshold for foreigners to buy property was lowered to RM600,000 in the 2020 Budget announced on Friday. Finance minister Lim Guan Eng said today that the reduced price would apply only for a year for existing unsold condominium apartments, and would not cover new projects.

The proposal had been criticised by the House Buyers Association which said the new price level would lead to inflation and a shortage of affordable homes for Malaysians as developers switched to easier-selling property at higher prices to attract foreigners.

Zuraida, Guan Eng under fire over property threshhold

PETALING JAYA – The ministers for finance and housing have both been taken to task for their remarks about the lower RM600,000 threshhold for foreigners to buy property, as proposed in the 2020 Budget.

Both ministers were criticised in a statement this evening by the Association of Victims of Abandoned Properties Malaysia, whose chairman Mohamed Rafick Khan urged the government to rethink its decision.

Rafick accused housing minister Zuraida Kamaruddin of “finger-pointing” by saying that the proposal to lower the threshold had come from the finance ministry, not the housing ministry.

He said her remark gave the impression that the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition was disconnected and there was no inter-ministry consultation.

Rafick also criticised finance minister Lim Guan Eng for later clarifying that the reduced price applied only to completed and unsold stock.

Calling it an after-thought, he said the later announcement reflected poorly on the government and he wondered how “such blunders could happen”.

Putrajaya should revisit its decision and put in measures to ensure only bona fide developers are given the necessary benefits.

He called for action by the housing ministry to protect house buyers against projects being abondoned. In the past 2 years, he said, projects to built 8,660 new houses had been abandoned, affecting 4,598 families. In addition there were 47,500 units of houses “either sick or delayed”, which affects over 23,000 buyers.

– FMT