From : Property Guru
Sales and inquiries for houses in Iskandar Malaysia, especially in Johor Bahru, rose significantly in May, according to real estate agencies OrangeTee and Propnex.
In the past month alone, OrangeTee’s agents sold nearly 100 homes in Iskandar. This translates to 25 deals per week, surpassing the 10-unit average per week in 2012. Interestingly, four out of five buyers were Singaporeans.
The spike is attributed to Singapore’s additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD). Since 12 January, Singaporeans who already have one residential property will need to pay an ABSD of seven percent if they intend to buy a second property, while foreigners are required to fork out a 15 percent tax to purchase a home in the republic.
“We did an informal survey at our exhibition over the weekend — about half of the people we surveyed, about 120 buyers, mentioned that they do not want to pay ABSD in Singapore,” said Christine Li, Head of Research & Consultancy at OrangeTee.
“Some of this demand has shifted to overseas properties, particularly Iskandar Malaysia. We received about a 50 percent jump in enquiries over the past few weeks, especially after the Malaysia General Elections because this sort of signals the political stability in the region for at least another five years.”
Investors are also attracted to Iskandar thanks to its affordable homes prices, which is only a third of the current prices in the city-state, noted Propnex.
Furthermore, the proposed property tax in Johor for foreigners will unlikely deter investors, as the tax hike could be modest and will probably target luxury properties.
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