The government has announced that it will be extending the duration of the National Home Ownership Campaign to Dec 31, 2019.

Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the extension was due to overwhelming response from both buyers and developers.

"The campaign, launched by the prime minister, has received a good response from homebuyers and developers.

"I was informed that there have been requests and strong proposals from buyers and developers for the campaign period to be extended to December 2019 from the original target (of conclusion) on June 2019," she said in a statement today.

According to Zuraida, the campaign has benefitted new homebuyers with offers such as exemptions or reductions on stamp duties.

"Additionally, a 10 percent discount on the price of advertising permits and original sales or selling price can also be enjoyed by buyers," her statement read.

Announced under Budget 2019, the National Home Ownership Campaign is a collaboration between the Housing and Local Government Ministry, the Finance Ministry, as well as home developers’ associations – including the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda), Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) and Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Sheda).

Initially set to run from Jan 1 to June 30, the campaign is aimed at helping Malaysians purchase their first homes at a lower cost and clearing the backlog of unsold residential properties in the country, especially those priced between RM300,000 and RM500,000.

Overhang units

In a separate statement, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng confirmed that his ministry has accepted Zuraida's appeal for the campaign period to be extended by six months.

Citing data from the National Property Information Centre (Napic), he stated that there were 32,313 overhang units as at the last quarter of 2018.

This represented a 30.6 percent increase in the number of unsold units in the country compared to the same period in 2017.

"This reflects the long-standing issues of home ownership, as well as the mismatch between the supply and demand of houses in the market. 

"The Home Ownership Campaign has received a positive reception from the public as the stamp duty exemption incentives and discounts of at least 10 percent were able to reduce the cost of home ownership, especially for Malaysians who have never owned a house," he said.