The Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) will now end on December 31, 2021, and industry players are expecting active transactions in the coming months as first-time homebuyers will be motivated to buy.
Due to the rise in Covid-19 cases, the government put the country under total lockdown from June 1 to June 14 and introduced the RM40 billion "Program Strategik Memperkasa Rakyat dan Ekonomi Tambahan" (Pemerkasa Plus) aid to help the people and tackle the economic impact of the two-week lockdown.
The Pemerkasa Plus aid includes extending the HOC till the end of this year.
The campaign was supposed to end on May 31, 2021.
The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) Malaysia has lauded the government's decision to extend the campaign from June 1, 2021, until December 31, 2021, under the PEMERKASA incentive.
Rehda president Datuk Soam Heng Choon said the seven-month extension will benefit the property industry as a whole and contribute to the rebuilding of the nation's economy.
He also said the extension of the HOC is representative of the government's commitment to alleviating the people's burden during this trying time, as potential purchasers may be hard-pressed to pay for the stamp duties and would benefit from the discounts offered on the house prices.
"HOC has been well sought-after by purchasers due to its incentives namely the waivers on the memorandum of transfers and loan agreement stamp duties as well as the minimum 10 per cent discount on the property price," he said in a statement.
The HOC was first introduced in 2019 to stimulate the property buying process and the sale of unsold properties.
The real value for potential buyers comes from the financial incentives that are being offered as part of the campaign. The incentives include full stamp duty exemption on instrument of transfer for any residential properties worth up to RM1 million, partial stamp duty exemption for properties worth RM1 million up to RM2.5 million, further stamp duty exemption on the instrument on securing a loan, and a minimum 10 per cent discount on properties.
Between January and December 2019, RM37 billion worth of sales (or 57,000 residential property transactions) were achieved under the HOC.
There was no HOC from January 1, 2020, to May 31, 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and surge in positive cases, coupled with the implementation of Movement Control Order by the government to curb the spread of the virus.
In order to support businesses and strengthen the nation's economy, the Prime Minister introduced the Short-Term Economic Recovery Plan during his speech on June 5, 2020.
The reintroduction of HOC 2020-2021 (June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021) was amongst the many initiatives that were presented.
HOC 2020-2021 recorded total sales of RM25.65 billion (34,354 properties) as of February 28, 2021.
The Rehda Property Industry Survey for 2H20 and market outlook for 1H21 and 2H21 released in March this year show that among the 121 respondents who participated in HOC 2020/2021, 89 per cent of respondents said the campaign had helped them bring in sales.
Soam said between June 1, 2020, and early May this year, close to 50,000 units have been sold in Peninsular Malaysia under the campaign, with the discounted value of about RM6.3 billion given by developers.
"While we await the new gazette before the extension can formally take effect, we hope that people will take advantage of the campaign and take this opportunity to search for their dream homes," he said.