Stamp Duty Exemption. When buying subsale property for first-time home buyer

Stamp Duty Exemption. When buying subsale property for first-time home buyer. Subsale means from the secondary market yeah. If you are buying a new property from the developer, that’s primary. Your exemptions could be under the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC). Just need to google for them too.

Reasons to buy property and reasons not to buy

If you do not own a property today, there are many reasons to buy a property. Investment is one of them. Long term yeah. First-time exemptions could be another great reason. Speculation wise, there are other faster types, just NOT property.

There are also many other reasons a property is not necessary even if you are a first-time home buyer. First, just rent and move anytime you like. Second, continue staying with your parents. Third and most important one, earning exceptional income is usually one of the reasons.

Property Investment is all about the 4Ps (read more on 4Ps if you like)

When we talk about property investment, there are usually the 4Ps (yes, this 4Ps is by Charles Tan). 4Ps include Price, Place, Preference and Policy. For this article, we will look at one latest of such policy to also help the property buyers, especially first-time home buyers; Stamp Duty. It’s for both primary and sub-sale properties. No more helping just the property developers.

Stamp Duty is a HUGE CHUNK of the money we need to prepare when we are buying a property. How huge? Typical numbers as follows:

If we are to buy a property of RM500,000 for example, then we need to pay the following amount as stamp duty.

RM100,000 x 1% = RM1,000

Remaining RM400,000 x 2% = RM8,000

Total amount we have to pay for stamp duty is RM9,000 (yes, to the government) and yes, the amount is a WOW because RM9,000 could have paid for an all expenses trip to an overseas destination somewhere in ASEAN. Now, for the good news, this is now waived for first-time home buyers!

Budget 2021 Stamp Duty Exemption for First-time Home Buyers

This full stamp duty exemption will be given for properties which are priced at a maximum of RM500,000. If the property is priced ANY higher than RM500,000, then this stamp duty exemption is no longer applicable.

I repeat, if you buy a RM500,000 property from the subsale market and you are a first time home buyer, then you get full exemption of RM9,000 (calculation shown above) and if you bought a property of RM500,001, then this RM9,000 is NOT applicable to you. Probably the logic behind is that if you are a first-time home buyer, it’s better to buy something really affordable; RM500,000 or below instead.

Exemption of stamp duty and property prices are too different things

This exemption will be applicable for Sale and Purchase Agreement completed between January 2021 to 31 December 2025. So, yes, you actually do have time but if it’s a RM500,000 property it may just be a good time to take this offer up sooner than later because exemptions may be till 2025 but it does not mean the property price can also stay stagnant till then.

First-Time Home buyer, if only there was such an offer during my first property

I was struggling with my first property way back in 2002. There were no stamp duty exemptions by the way. So, I would wish to have it too. However, buying that first property has sparked a property investment journey which has been very rewarding thus far. I would encourage all to have at least one property to our name. That does nothing to make us a millionaire but it stops us from losing a lot of money to inflation. Happy deciding.

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