By Farah Wahida:
The Malaysian government has no plans to raise the RM500,000 (S$199,870) minimum entry for foreign property buyers, according to Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung.
While the ministry had considered increasing the minimum price, it found that foreigners accounted for less than 10 percent of overall transactions, with Singaporeans making up about five percent.
Nevertheless, “the government may review the ceiling price in future”, said Chor, adding that the base price is a bit low considering the current circumstances.
Meanwhile, Malaysia is fast becoming South East Asia’s education hub, attracting many parents from the region, especially from China to buy properties in the country for their children, he noted.
However, “property buyers should see the properties personally instead of making their decision solely on online information”, he said to the media after launching a new property portal called Malaysia.SouFun.com.
“We’ve received many reports about false promises and advertisements for online purchases of other products.”
As such, buyers are advised to visit Malaysia and view the properties to make sure that everything is in order. Developers can also set up tours for buyers to view their properties, he added.
Farah Wahida, Editor of PropertyGuru Malaysia, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email farahwahida@propertyguru.com.my
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