• 
• 

Published on March 5, 2008

Property Perfect senior executive vice president Teerachon Manomaiphibul said the government's tax package for the real-estate sector would reduce property costs by more than 5 per cent: 3.3 per cent from the reduction of special business tax and 2 per cent from the elimination of the transfer fee.

"Most property firms have waived the 2-per-cent transfer fee for their home-buyers since the property market is in a state of high competition," he said. "When the government reduces both the special business tax and transfer fee, property firms will reduce their costs."

He added that property costs would be reduced immediately by Bt43,000 when selling a house worth Bt1 million. Meanwhile, home-buyers will reduce their costs by Bt20,000 when purchasing a similar house.  "We believe this government's tax package will drive property market growth up to 10 per cent this year - better than the early estimate of 5-per-cent," he said.

Housing registrations recorded 73,800 units in 2007, an annual drop of 5.5 per cent.

Teerachon believes registrations will increase to 80,000 units this year, worth nearly Bt240 billion.

Land & Houses senior vice president Naporn Soonthornchit-charoen said the new tax package would help property firms reduce their costs, having faced high construction costs since raw-material prices started rising last year.

The tax package is also expected to benefit other sectors, including the telecommunications industry.

Total Access Communication chief executive Sigve Brekke said the tax reductions would stimulate private consumption and spending, which could be good for the telecom business.

The Nation