KUALA LUMPUR: Glomac Bhd has described Budget 2025 as considerate, as it focuses heavily on helping young people and first-time homebuyers own their own homes.
Glomac group managing director and chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor (FD Iskandar) said this could be seen through the announcement of individual tax relief of up to RM7,000 on housing loan interest payments.
Additionally, he mentioned that the introduction of the Step Up Financing Scheme under Syarikat Jaminan Kredit Perumahan (SJKP) can also help first-time buyers by offering lower loan repayment facilities for the first five years.
"With the largest budget of RM421 billion, I hope there will be a spillover effect to assist and improve Malaysians' purchasing power. With improved purchasing power, they can also use that to buy properties," he told reporters in a virtual interview after the announcement on 2025 Budget.
That said, FD Iskandar, appealed to the government to introduce the Madani Deposit scheme during the half-year review of the Budget.
"This scheme will indeed help first-time homebuyers, and I hope the government will consider introducing it in the future."
"Secondly, I appeal for the government to reintroduce the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) during the half-year review. Through the HOC, stamp duty exemptions are given for houses priced up to RM500,000."
"However, I request that this stamp duty exemption be increased for houses priced up to RM1 million in locations such as Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley, Penang, and so on," said FD Iskandar.