Selangor saw the highest number of units sold under the HOC at 30,888 units followed by Kuala Lumpur at 17,488 units and Johor at 8,723 units as of September 30. — Picture by Hari Anggara
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — The Real Estate & Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) today asked the government for a second extension to the ongoing Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) that is to end in December, to provide continued assistance to first-time home buyers.
Rehda president Datuk Soam Heng Choon said this was among the top three Budget 2022 wishes from the majority of respondents to its Property Industry Survey in the first half of this year.
He said doing so would help the property market recover as the country transitioned into an endemic phase.
“Because we lost four months of the HOC extension [from June to September] the previous time, so developers are hoping that the HOC which will end after December 31 can be extended,” Soam said during a virtual media briefing on the release of the survey.
Earlier, he said 87 per cent of 180 respondents polled in the Rehda survey agreed that the country’s endemic phase will accelerate property market recovery.
Soam said the HOC was ranked first among the top three measures to boost sales and attract potential homebuyers in the first half of 2021 as compared to the first half of 2020 according to the survey results.
He was referring to the “total lockdown” imposed nationwide from June 1 to September 14 by the federal government, during which all social and economic activities were prohibited.
However, the restrictions varied from state to state, depending on which phase of the National Recovery Plan they were placed in.
The HOC was originally supposed to end on May 31 but was extended from June 1 until December 31 this year, under the Strategic Programmes to Empower the People and Economy (Pemerkasa) incentive.
The incentives include full stamp duty exemption on instrument of transfer for any residential properties between RM300,000 and RM2.5 million, further stamp duty exemption on the instrument on securing a loan, and a minimum 10 per cent discount on properties.
It was first introduced in 2019 to stimulate the property buying process and the sale of unsold properties before being reintroduced on June 1, 2020 under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) to stimulate the market following the initial Covid-19 outbreak.
According to Rehda, the 2020-2021 HOC saw a total of 73,503 residential units comprising both service apartments and double storey terrace being sold for a total value of RM47.38 billion after discount from a figure of RM56.96 billion before discounts.
Selangor saw the highest number of units sold under the HOC at 30,888 units followed by Kuala Lumpur at 17,488 units and Johor at 8,723 units as of September 30.