Malaysia’s southern state of Johor calls for property purchase restrictions by foreigners to be halved to bolster real estate sales
- Foreigners are barred from purchasing Malaysian property valued at less than 1 million ringgit (US$242,000), a restriction imposed in 2014 to prevent speculation
- The Johor real estate industry guild is urging the government to halve that limit, to bolster sales in a lacklustre market
The Johor Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) is calling on the government to consider reviewing the current threshold of property acquisition by foreigners.
According to Johor Rehda chairman Chong Yoon On, the minimum threshold of 1 million ringgit (US$242,000) per unit imposed in 2014 should be reverted to 500,000 ringgit.
The measure was introduced by the previous administration to stabilise domestic prices from excessive speculation to enable local interests to acquire quality properties valued less than 1 million ringgit per unit, especially residential units.
The guidelines on the acquisition of properties issued by the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department was first enforced on June 30, 2009 to replace the Foreign Investment Committee Guidelines, which have been abolished.
“The review of the 1 million ringgit threshold is timely in view of the slowdown in the domestic property market in the recent years and developers are operating in difficult situation,’’ he said.
Chong said that the authorities both at the Federal and Johor Government levels should not be alarmed as local buyers were unlikely to be affected should the suggestion to be implemented.