KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 21): MIDF group managing director Datuk Mohd Najib Abdullah said Budget 2017 has been dedicated to assisting the B40 income group, especially in the area of affordable housing.

"This scale is unprecedented, especially the amount involved, which is RM14 billion," he said in a statement in immediate response to the tabling of the budget earlier this evening.

He expects positive spillover effect from the assistance on the construction sector, especially the producers of pre-cast concrete products and construction companies with significant housing content.

Having said that, he said the long list of measures to address the issue of first home buyers' affordability is expected.

"This is likely caused by the strong focus on the issue by the media as well as the people," he noted.

He said the stamp duty exemption rise to 100% for houses below RM300,000 should relieve the burden of first-time home buyers slightly, while public-listed developers would not be affected by this as the prices of their products are not in the same category.

However, the same can't be said for the stamp duty rise to 4% from 3% on houses above RM1 million, which is expected to adversely affect property developers with products in the price bracket, he said.

He also noted that there is no change to the real property gain tax rate, and that the Developer Interest-Bearing Scheme is still disallowed. — theedgemarkets.com

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