JELEBU, March 13 — The Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government (KPKT) will propose to the Cabinet to implement a mechanism which enables sales of houses to foreigners to be done in US dollars.
Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar said the proposal was aimed at protecting the interest of the local house buyers, as well as to control property ownership by foreigners.
As such, he said the proposal would only allow the foreigners to buy properties worth more than RM1 million in this country.
“Right now, foreigners who buy houses costing more than RM1 million do so in Malaysian Ringgit, but because the exchange rate of our currency changes quite frequently, we recommend that the price is quoted in US dollars.
“We will propose this to the Cabinet for in-depth study,” he told reporters after a working visit to Simpang Pertang here, today.
About a newspaper report that the Penang government was lowering the selling price of houses costing RM1 million to RM800,000, Noh said that if this were to happen, it conflicts with the policy of the Federal government.
“I urge the state government to review the matter because it is against the policy of the Federal government, which allows only houses priced at more than RM1 million can be sold to foreigners.
“If the price is less than that, the state government and the developer must obtain permission from the ministry (KPKT),” he said.
Earlier, Noh at a press conference also announced an allocation of RM3 million for the construction of seven small projects in Jelebu, including a community hall, hawker stalls and a bus station.