12-6-2023

The ACCCIM welcomes Ministry of Finance’s media announcement that the Government will implement a 100% exemption on stamp duty on Instrument of transfer and Loan agreement for properties priced RM500,000 and below until end-2025; and 75% exemption for properties priced between RM500,001 and RM1 million (from 1 June till end-2023) as announced in the 2023 Budget.

In addition, all property transfers based on love and affection between spouses, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren will be given a full exemption of stamp duty the first RM1m of property’s value.

This measure will encourage first time home ownership and support the development of residential property, which bodes well for other supporting industries. The stamp duty exemption will result in savings for the home buyers. It is estimated that the measures would result in savings of RM11,500 for property priced RM500,000 and RM21,750 for a property valued at RM1 million, respectively.

This measure is expected to help improve sales of new properties priced between RM500,000 and RM1 million amid the impact of higher lending rates. In 1Q 2023, the residential property sector recorded 153,923 transactions worth RM20.9 billion, a decline of 6.6% in volume and 9.1% in value year-on-year (yo-y).

We hope that the financial institutions will continue to provide attractive home mortgage package for the first-time home buyers in supporting the Home Ownership Programme. It is hoped that the Government will consider to extend the stamp duty exemption period for property priced between RM500,001 and RM1 million to end-2025 from end-2023 at the tabling of 2024 Budget in October 2023. This is to standardize with the exemption period for the property value RM500,000, which is until end-2025.