The government should consider re-starting Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme with attractive measures to attract foreign investors here as a catalyst to stimulate the local property market.
Glomac Bhd group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri FD Iskandar Mansor said there should be MM2H, but with better guidelines.
"If the government thinks there are certain things that need to be tightened up, then tighten up but don't take it off permanently. The local market needs to have MM2H," FD Iskandar told NST Property.
The government has temporarily suspended MM2H to allow the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture (MOTAC) and related agencies to comprehensively review and re-evaluate the MM2H program since its inception in 2002.
The suspension is in line with the government's decision not to allow foreigners to enter Malaysia following the outbreak of Covid-19. The Covid-19 pandemic prompted Malaysia to shut its borders in March.
MM2H has grown in popularity among many foreigners especially people from mainland China and Japan, and more recently Hongkongers seeking respite from protests and the national security law.
But Malaysia's sudden and unexplained suspension of MM2H has led to many questioning the future of the scheme.
MM2H started in 2002 and the scheme offered foreigners multiple-entry resident visas that must be renewed every 10 years.
Between 2002 and 2018, 43,943 applications from 131 countries or territories were approved, of which 1,087 came from Hong Kong, ranking the city ninth in a list of the top 10.
A report, quoting Malaysian My Second Home Consultants Association stated that between September and November 2019, about nine in 10 MM2H applicants were rejected without explanation. Prior to that, the rejection rate was around one in 10.
"People are not sure what is happening as there is a flip flop policy. Some foreigners, when they took up MM2H, had already sold their properties elsewhere to buy in Malaysia and it is not fair that they can't come back to Malaysia under the MM2H," FD Iskandar said.
FD Iskandar said, besides MM2H, the threshold limit for foreign buying should also be lowered and standardised for each state.
Under the MM2H scheme, foreigners are allowed to buy a property valued at more than RM1 million, and own vehicles. The government, however, has reduced the minimum price threshold from RM1 million to RM600,000 for foreign property purchases in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya.
FD Iskandar said this is a good move by the government but the threshold should be lowered and standardised across the board.
"Foreign buying into Malaysia is still low at two per cent as compared with Singapore which is over 30 per cent. Before the third wave of Covid-19, we were doing okay. Foreign buyers look at Malaysia as a safe haven and we have many facilities such as health, wellness, and education. Why are we not getting them in? If the government thinks the threshold is too low at RM600,000, come talk to us and we can increase to RM700,000.
"Some state governments, however, still insist that foreign property buyers can only buy above RM2 million. Why not standardise this until a certain time, say the end of next year?
"I would like to see the threshold lowered to RM700,000, and once this has been agreed upon, I appeal to all state governments to follow. Some people may want to buy in Kuala Lumpur and some may want to buy in Sabah. Once the threshold is standardised and all state governments agree, then we can start marketing our properties," he said.
FD Iskandar also appealed to the government to promote and make Malaysia an Asian hub for businesses to fill up vacant office space.
"You see offices being build left, right and centre but we don't have that many end-users. Let's promote and make Malaysia an ASEAN hub so we can attract more people here," he added.