THE government’s Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) is not extended to foreign buyers, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin told the Dewan Rakyat today during question time.

“The HOC does not involve foreigners. Only for local markets, involving Malaysians,” she said in reply to Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (BN-Lenggong), who asked for the number of foreign nationals who benefited from the HOC.

Zuraida said the number of foreigners who owned homes in Malaysia was small, and they involved properties more than RM1 million.

“At the moment, not many foreigners have bought homes here. Only 0.4%, which is 958 individuals. The houses are all worth more than RM1 million,” she said.

In October, Zuraida said the number of luxury homes sold to foreigners, for the January to June period, was 398.

The HOC was launched in January and was due to end in June but has been extended until the end of the year. It is aimed at reducing the glut of unsold properties and to help first-time house buyers.

Under the campaign, Malaysian house buyers can get discounts from 10%, as well as stamp day exemptions.

Zuraida was criticised in September for proposing that the HOC be opened to foreigners, especially to Hong Kong, to take advantage of the unrest and the high cost of properties there.

In the end, the government decided to leave foreign purchases of residential properties under the existing Malaysia My Second Home programme.

In the Dewan Rakyat today, Zuraida was asked by Hassan Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang) about news reports that Hong Kong buyers could snap up as many as 10,000 units of properties in Malaysia within six months.

She said she was unaware and that the information had not come from her ministry. Hassan asked her to investigate the information, which was reported by The Malaysian Reserve based on realtors’ observations. – November 20, 2019.