KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 24) – Lim Guan Eng, Finance Minister gave the keynote address for the annual  REHDA Institute Property Developers Conference – CEO Series 2018 at Sunway Putra Hotel.

He has iterated government emphasis on its aspiration of enabling more Malaysians to own a home. The government has taken a bold step in exempting SST in the construction service with the hope that property prices will be reduced. Otherwise he mentioned that “the government may have to rethink the exemption given and find new ways to make home affordable, especially to first time home buyers”.

Also, announced was levy would be split 20-80 between the employer and the foreign worker. This was in conjunction with the current labour shortage in the construction industry with the extension of the 10 years stay for foreign workers up to a maximum of additional 3 years, with annual levy of RM10,000 to be paid.

Lim Guan Eng mentioned there was a lot of low cost houses having first time buyers to have their loans being rejected. He mentioned unofficially it could be as high as 60% rejection. He said “the government has already requested Bank Negara Malaysia to reassess its strict lending guidelines”.

Meanwhile, Dato’ Jeffrey Ng, REHDA Chairman mentioned the housing and property industry are facing challenging times ahead. He said: “Weak market conditions, unsold units, increased costs of doing business, financing challenges faced by house buyers are but some of the key hindrances to growth. ”

The conference has tailored into three broad areas – the economic outlook and key sectors, attracting investments and new disruptive technology trends including digital marketing, untapped opportunities in co-living and student accommodation.