Johor government looking at ways to relax property ownership regulations

JOHOR BARU:  The Johor government is looking at ways to relax regulations on foreign ownership of homes in an effort to reduce the glut of unsold properties in the state.

Housing and Local Government committee chairman Datuk Md Jais Sarday said foreigners could only purchase properties that are more than RM1mil.

"Maybe, we can look at relaxing the requirements based on the size of the houses, allowing them to purchase homes which are more than 1,000 sq ft but less than RM1mil," he said on Sunday (Nov 19).

Jais, however, said that nothing has been finalised, as it would require discussions with the Federal Government.

He was asked to comment on a recent Bank Negara report on housing issues nationwide.

Jais said they hoped to formulate new strategies and policies to spur the housing industry by the beginning of next year.

Currently, there are more than 80,000 bumiputra and about 40,000 non-bumiputra unsold properties in the state.

The properties include landed houses, high-rise units and commercial factories.