KINIBIZ With Johor and Penang introducing a special levy for property purchases by foreigners in the state, will other states follow suit?

                    

That remains a possibility that cannot be ruled out, said Investment Promotions of Malaysia Property Incorporated (MPI) vice-president (II) David Chong, although it depends on the political, economic and social sentiment of a particular state in the near future.

In its Budget 2014 tabling last week, the Johor state government proposed a 2 percent levy on the purchased property’s value in transactions involving foreign buyers, which replaces the existing flat-rate processing fee of RM10,000 per transaction.

The proposal came as Penang is mulling a similar levy of 3 percent on property purchases in the state by foreign buyers, expected to come into effect in January next year.

“These states (Johor and Penang) are ‘hot’ investment locations due to their attractive proposition, hence the need for such levy in the first place,” said Chong to KiniBiz.

Go to KiniBiz for the full article.