State Housing, Local Government, Public Transport, and Non-Muslim Affairs executive committee chairman Paul Yong says the new SST system will allow developers and housebuyers alike to incur lower costs compared to the multi-tier GST. ― Picture by Farhan Najib
IPOH, Aug 14 — Prices of new homes in Perak should fall as a result of the sales tax exemption on building materials, a state executive councillor asserted today.
“When GST came in 2015, the demand for housing dropped severely. The tax affected many transaction levels,” State Housing, Local Government, Public Transport, and Non-Muslim Affairs executive committee chairman Paul Yong said today.
Yong said the effects of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) exemption should show in future developments, adding that this demonstrated the government’s awareness of the need for more affordable homes.
Perak REHDA chairman Tony Khoo, who was also present at the workshop on the New Housing Policy today, said developers were grateful that the government has repealed the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
However, Khoo was not as committed to Yong’s claim that house will be much cheaper.
On Sunday, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said construction services and building material costs are SST exempt.
However, developers have since said that the savings were only marginal as raw materials accounted for less than a third of development costs.
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