Penang extends approval fee waiver period for foreign property buyers

Penang will persist in its attempts to spur its sluggish housing market by waiving the three percent approval fee for foreign buyers despite having incurred losses of RM3 million.

The state executive councillor in charge of housing, Jagdeep Singh Deo, said the state government will continue with the initiative for another six months.

Jagdeep noted the initiative was started in January this year and was supposed to end by June. 

"But I received a letter from the Penang branch of the International Real Estate Federation (Fiabci) requesting the state government to extend the waiver for another six months," he told reporters at a press conference in Komtar today.

"I have raised the matter with the state executive council during our weekly meeting last week, and I will raise it again tomorrow when we meet.

"We (the council) have decided to help stimulate the housing market further by supporting the request for an extension to the waiver of approval fees for foreign purchases."

Based on a report from the state land office, Jagdeep said, there were 55 applications for approval fee waivers.

He provided no additional details concerning the foreign nationals who made the applications, but said they were planning to purchase properties worth about RM2 million in the state.

Jagdeep also said that Putrajaya's initiative to waive the stamp duty for first-time house buyers, as announced by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng last year, will also be extended for another six months until Dec 31.

This initiative applies to all transactions up to RM1 million per unit, with the extension period announced by the Finance Ministry on June 19.

"These initiatives have been effective and successful, and have helped spur the housing market, as we were all aware that the market had been soft," Jagdeep added.

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