PR1MA Phase 1 to feature 15 affordable housing projects

BY NG BEI SHAN
BEISHAN@THESTAR.COM.MY

PR1MA Corp Malaysia

PETALING JAYA: More than 20,000 homes will be built under 15 affordable housing projects in Greater Klang Valley, Johor, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak.

“These 15 new developments are under Phase 1 of the PR1MA programme. I am confident that by year-end, we will have more on board to meet the 80,000 homes as announced in Budget 2013,” said PR1MA Corp Malaysia CEO Datuk Abdul Mutalib Alias.

Specifications of the 20,519 houses, including pricing and floor plans, will be announced in the next few months.

Prices of the houses are below RM350,000, he said at a press conference yesterday.

On top of the 15 projects approved, there are also plans to launch new projects in the next few months in Setapak and Jalan Jubilee in Kuala Lumpur, Bayan Lepas in Penang, two others in Johor Baru and one each in Sabah and Sarawak.

Infrastructure work on three of the projects, namely Alam Damai, Cheras; Pasir Gudang, Johor; and Seremban Utara had started, said Abdul Mutalib.

The units range from 1,400sq ft to 1,700sq ft for landed properties and between 670sq ft and 1,300sq ft for high-rise units.

Buyers should be able to take ownership of the houses within 24 months for landed houses, and 36 months for high-rise residential ones from the signing of the sales and purchase agreement.

Abdul Mutalib said it had received 250,000 registrations for the PR1MA houses and urged eligible buyers to register.

He also cautioned interested buyers on scams involving fee collection by some quarters for the housing scheme application.

“No fees are imposed on the registration of PR1MA houses,” he said.

Eligible applicants aged 21 years and above, who do not own more than one property in Malaysia and have an individual or combined gross monthly household income of between RM2,500 and RM7,500, can apply via www.pr1ma.my.

He added that the properties cannot be transferred or sold to another party under a 10-year moratorium and that the homes must be owner-occupied.

Govt to consider subsidy rationalisation, GST and review RPGT

PETALING JAYA: The Government’s Fiscal Policy Committee is to consider implementing measures to improve the country’s fiscal position that will include subsidy rationalisation, a Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a review of the real property gains tax (RPGT).

The committee, chaired by the Prime Minister and which includes officials from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and the Finance Ministry, will also look to tackle the narrowing current account surplus and carefully space out public sector projects to ease the impact on the national accounts.

In the meantime, Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah said the Government was fully committed to continue BR1M (1Malaysia People’s Assistance) payments to the lower income groups.

“In the longer term, the Government plans to introduce a comprehensive social safety net for vulnerable groups which is targeted to be implemented in 2015,” he said in a statement.

He said the EPU had been tasked to lead a team to propose a social safety net system and that the Government would consider having a more targeted subsidy system instead of a blanket approach.

Slowing exports have hit the economy of late with the gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of this year coming in at 4.3%.

Apart from weakness in the external sector, problems have also cropped up with imbalances in the property sector, high household debt and rising Government debt and fiscal deficit.

The Government said it was committed to ensuring that its debt did not exceed 55% of GDP, that its revenue exceeded operating expenditure and the fiscal deficit did not exceed 4% of GDP.

Husni said with the narrowing current account surplus, all future public sector projects would be considered carefully and also the current account position in the balance of payments.

“Projects that will have a big impact of public finances will be reviewed and sequenced properly to avoid excessive strain on the Federal Budget,” said Husni.

He added that to ensure money was spent wisely, an Outcome Based Budgeting will be introduced in a pilot programme at the Finance Minstry, Health Ministry and International Trade and Industry Ministry.

“Public sector projects with low import content and high multiplier effects will be given priority, without compromising economic growth,” he said.

Focus group discussions of improving exports and growing niche services have been conducted and the Government has received several ideas to be considered for Budget 2014.

It will look at ways to enhance Malaysia’s economic competitiveness and diversify the country’s export markets, especially in the logistics sector.

The Government will also look at beefing up the tourism sector with 2014 being Visit Malaysia Year and is targeting more direct exports of Malaysian agro-based products, such as bird’s nest and cut flowers.

AmResearch Sdn Bhd economist Patricia Oh said with a budget deficit target of 3% in 2015, the importance of having clarity on fiscal reforms was important.

“The Fitch sovereign credit outlook downgrade will have made this clear to the Government,” she said.

Oh, like other economists, believe that the Government remains under pressure where the introduction of measures on particular sources of revenue are concerned. “There may be a market reaction to certain measures, especially where property is concerned,” Oh said. - The Star

Support for increase in real property gains tax

PETALING JAYA: Property executives are in favour of an increase in the real property gains tax (RPGT), saying the move would help temper excessive speculation in a market that saw average house prices gallop by double-digits last year.

Industry participants who spoke to StarBiz argued that while some measure of speculation was necessary for a healthy market, it had, in recent times, become unreasonable.

“This is evident in certain locations. But any cooling measures should be implemented carefully. We don’t want to kill off the whole industry,” said Foo Gee Jen, managing director of CH Williams Talhar & Wong Sdn Bhd, a property consultancy.

He suggested that the Government raise the first tax bracket for RPGT to three years from two currently, and the tax rate to 25% from 15%. These policies needed to be targeted at specific individuals rather than across the board, affecting, for instance, those who had committed to multiple transactions within a given time, Foo said.

The Government might also consider putting the brakes on the developer interest-bearing scheme (DIBS) and other rebates to house buyers, which have served to artificially inflate prices, he added.

DIBS, a popular easy financing package offered by property developers in joint-promotion activities with banks, was banned in Singapore two years ago.

Under the scheme, buyers need not fork out much for their downpayment, as the developer supposedly absorbs the initial interest. This is until the buyer takes possession of the property.

A high number of buyers enter this scheme with the intention of flipping the property when they gain possession of it. This scenario fuels speculation.

The Government is mulling the possibility of increasing RPGT to tame runaway house prices.

The availability of various rebates, valuer Elvin Fernandez said, had also led to much of the speculation and demand in the primary market.

An analyst with a non-bank backed research house told StarBiz that any fresh cooling measures should be selective so as not to harm the real demand for homes.

“The point is to weed out the flippers,” she said. Although talk of further policy tightening would likely weigh on sentiment for property stocks, their longer-term sales and earnings remained sound, given that speculators probably comprised only 5% to 6% of total bank loans, the analyst said.

In a note yesterday, CIMB Research said it saw a “very high chance” that the RPGT would be expanded when Malaysia’s budget is tabled in October, in line with the trend over the past two years.

“There is a possibility that other measures to curb speculation may be imposed as well, such as restrictions to the DIBS. These measures would help dampen property speculation, at least temporarily.

“However, the Government would have to strike a fine balance between lowering speculative activities and excessive tightening, as the key problem in the sector is not overly strong demand, but the lack of supply.

“Moves to curb speculation could inadvertently lead to even slower supply growth, which would exacerbate the demand-supply imbalance over the longer term,” the brokerage cautioned. - The Star

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