Johor Housing, Communication and Multimedia Committee chairman Dzulkefly Ahmad said the Federal Government should look into the benefits or disadvantages of a property expo for foreigners mooted by the Housing and Local Government Ministry before a final decision is made.

A report by the Star today said Dzulkefly is concerned that property developers would reduce their attention on the local market if the government encouraged the sale of luxury homes to foreigners.

He also conceded that there is a glut of luxury homes in the market and the expo might help reduce the number of unsold high-end properties in the country.

Dzulkefly said in Johor alone, there were now 51,459 units of unsold properties with an estimated value of more than RM36bil, of which 70% comprised high-end properties.

“High-end properties mean houses that cost RM600,000 to RM1mil, and by helping property developers sell their unsold inventory, the government is also sending a signal that developers might stop building affordable homes.

He added that the initiative to conduct property expos outside the country should be done by the property developers themselves, and not by the government.

According to Dzulkefly, the state government can reduce unsold properties in the state by introducing a new policy that will ease the process of releasing bumiputra units.

“These short-term solutions would be implemented for a year to see whether it can reduce the number to at least one-third or RM12bil of the total figure of RM36bil, ” he said, adding that the RM12bil could be used to manage other forms of development, job opportunities and generate economy to the people.

Dzulkefly was commenting on Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin's initiative to sell off high-end properties under the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme.