Minimal GST impact on housing cost

KOTA KINABALU: The impact on cost to housing developers when the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is implemented in April next year will be between one and two per cent, said Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.He said it is normal to see negative perceptions emerging from all quarters whenever the subject of tax is raised, even though the Government has stressed that residential homes are exempted from GST.

"The implementation of GST is said will cause the price of houses to go up due to the increasing cost of building materials.

"(But) the Government has also conducted its own analysis and is confident that the impact on the construction cost will only be about one to two per cent, which can be absorbed by the developers," he said.

However, the door for discussion is always open to ensure the burden to be absorbed could be re-evaluated, he said at a dinner in conjunction with The Edge Property Excellence Award programme, here, Saturday. His speech was delivered by National Housing Director-General Datuk Mohamad Yusoff Ghazali.

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Sabah revenue hits RM6.97 billion: Hajiji says GRS State Government may see full term

Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Government continued its momentum in managing the economy in line with the commitment and spirit of the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) when it posted record high state revenue of RM6.973 billion last year.

Abdul Rahman said that in 2015 the Government is allocating RM644 million to continue building the 26,651 units of houses under the People's Housing Programme (PPR) in the country.

In Sabah, the houses built under the PPR totalled 24,491 units comprising 36 projects, while based on the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC), a total of 157,421 units of houses have been built by private developers in Sabah.

In the recently tabled National 2015 Budget, Abdul Rahman said the Prime Minister had also touched on the Government's commitment to build more 1Malaysia Public Personnel Houses (PPA1M).

A total of 5,380 units of PPA1M had been approved next year, with 1,290 units to be built in the PPA1M Papar, he said.

On the MyHome Scheme, Abdul Rahman said as of October this year, his Ministry had received 4,561 applications from Sabah and three projects involving 1,566 units had been approved as of Oct 1, 2014.

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"I call upon developers in Sabah to grab the opportunity to take part in the development of MyHome in the State because the Government has agreed to set aside RM300 million for another 10,000 units in 2015," he said.

Abdul Rahman also hoped the existing cooperation and cordial relationship between the Federal and State governments, NGOs and the private sector would remain strong.

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