Zeti says

ykt2 — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 22:34:00 +0800

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/803313

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 21, 2013): Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will not introduce new measures to curb household debt as the current ones are sufficient and have produced the expected results, said Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

"No, we have not introduced any such measures. We have already announced the measures much earlier and those are the ones in place and we have already seen that the household debt has moderated slightly.

"This is the outcome that we wanted to see," she told reporters after announcing the country's second quarter growth here today.

Zeti was commenting on talks that BNM may introduce more measures to curb the household debt.

On July 5, BNM had implemented a set of measures aimed at avoiding excessive household indebtedness and to reinforce responsible lending practices by key credit providers.

These included a 10-year cap on the tenure for personal loans, a 35-year limit on both housing and non-residential property loans, as well as a prohibition on pre-approved personal financing products.

"We did not want to see a significant tightening that will cause an over-adjustment because we are depending on consumption activity which is sustainable and therefore, however, we did not want to see household indebtedness that was not sustainable that would, going forward, undermine our growth prospects," Zeti said.

At this stage, BNM would continue to monitor closely the level of indebtedness and continue with its financial literacy awareness campaigns so that household financials were better managed, she said.

However, she said, banks could impose any such tightening measures for their consumers if they saw such excesses.

She said the central bank has imposed the guidelines and macro prudential measures, which at this stage were sufficient. – Bernama

Increase RPGT?

ykt2 — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 17:53:26 +0800

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013...ains-taxes.aspx

KUALA LUMPUR: Stamp duties and real property gains tax (RPGT) on the third and subsequent properties should be increased to curb speculative buying of properties, the National House Buyers Association (HBA).

The government has been imposing low stamp duties to encourage home ownership but speculators had taken advantage of them to accumulate multiple properties and manipulate property prices.

"The situation has been getting worse with the so-called 'Investor Club' manipulating the property market through block purchases. You just need to attend one of their seminars or conventions, you will know what I mean," HBA secretary-general, Chang Kim Loong, told Bernama.

While the association wants the government to maintain the current formula of one per cent for the first RM100,000 for the first two properties, the association also wanted those buying third property to pay at least five percent of the purchase price as stamp duty.

Chang also suggested that a higher stamp duty be imposed on fourth and subsequent properties, probably a flat rate of 7.5 percent for the fourth property and 10 percent for the fifth property.

"This will not penalise the genuine house buyers as they normally buy one property as home and another for long-term investment. However, this will penalise the speculators who accumulate multiple properties to sell them at a higher price," he said.

Chang said HBA also wanted the RPGT to be increased as the current rates were low and had little impact on short-term speculators who continued grabbing houses for profit, thus pushing up property prices to unbelievable levels.

"Currently, properties disposed of within two years of acquisition are liable for 15 percent RPGT, three-five years (10 percent) and no RPGT is imposed on property disposed of after five years of acquisition,

"What is happening now is that speculators acquire multiple properties directly from the developer. It normally takes two years to be completed, which means they can sell upon completion and only pay a meagre 15 percent RPGT," he said.

Therefore, HBA is proposing 30 percent RPGT on properties being disposed of within two years, 20 percent between two-three years and no RPGT imposed on property that is sold after five years of purchase.

However, for those who own a third and subsequent property, a 30 percent RPGT should be imposed for properties disposed of within 10 years.

"We have submitted our ten-point proposal to the Ministry of Finance during the recent Focus Group meeting. We hope the government adopts our proposal to curb price speculation," he said.

The Focus Group meeting on Aug 2, was chaired by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah to discuss the income inequality issue to solicit input for consideration under Budget 2014, which will be tabled in Parliament on Oct 25. - Bernama

Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by ykt2

Zeti says

Increase RPGT?