Home sweet home: A slew of incentives has been introduced under Budget 2025 to encourage home ownership among first-time buyers. — AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star
FIRST-TIME home buyers will get a tax relief of up to RM7,000 for purchasing residential homes priced up to RM500,000.
As for properties priced between RM500,000 and RM750,000, buyers will qualify for a tax relief of up to RM5,000.
This initiative, aimed at encouraging home ownership among first-time buyers, was outlined under Budget 2025 unveiled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.
“These reliefs can be claimed for three consecutive assessment years on sale and purchase agreements completed between Jan 1, 2025 and Dec 31, 2027,” he said.
To further support first-time home buyers, Anwar said the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme (SJKP) had approved RM12.8bil in government guarantees for over 57,000 individuals purchasing their first homes.
To help young Malaysians own a home, he announced a step-up financing scheme under SJKP that provides a government guarantee of up to RM5bil, offering lower loan repayments for the first five years.
In a push for affordable housing, he announced RM900mil to implement 48 People’s Residency Programmes (PRR) and 14 Rumah Mesra Rakyat (RMR) projects.
“This includes two new PRR projects in Port Dickson and Seberang Perai Tengah.
“Thirty PRR projects are on track for completion by the end of 2025, which will benefit nearly 17,500 new residents,” he said.
Budget 2025 also outlined a maximum aid increase of RM90,000 to build homes for residents under the hardcore poor housing programme (PPRT), fishermen and in Chinese new villages. Repairs on existing homes will see the ceiling rate increase to RM20,000, while efforts to maintain low-cost and medium-cost public strata homes have been reinforced with an allocation of RM200mil.
In addition, RM100mil has been set aside to upgrade 48 Madani public parks, enhancing recreational areas and landscapes in urban and small-town settings.To support community facilities, RM84mil is allocated for Chinese new villages to upgrade basic and social amenities.
The Housing and Local Government Ministry will also coordinate needs within Indian settlements, ensuring comprehensive support across communities.
In its response, the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) lauded the government’s initiatives to address housing needs for the B40 group.
Rehda president Datuk Ho Hon Sang said these efforts would greatly enhance housing availability for lower-income households, adding that the various housing initiatives show the government’s commitment to promoting home ownership.
He called on financial institutions to develop their step-up financing schemes to broaden access to these programmes.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) chief executive Saravanan Thambirajah also lauded the affordable housing initiatives and the tax exemptions and assistance for first-time homebuyers.
“Nevertheless, the focus should be on the B40 group as the housing tax exemptions primarily benefit the M40, which does not address the challenges faced by the B40, such as ineligibility for financing,” he said.
Anwar also announced key measures for disaster preparedness, focusing on flood mitigation.
He said RM600mil was allocated to the National Disaster Management Agency for flood response, while RM150mil would go to local councils and the Drainage and Irrigation Department for cleaning and river dredging in affected areas.
To improve aid distribution, Anwar said RM20mil in matching grants would be prepared to support the foundations of government-linked investment companies and government-linked companies in their efforts to help flood victims.
