The Thai cabinet has approved the reduction of housing transfer and mortgage fees to 0.01 per cent for a period of 12 months. The goal of this new measure is to speed up home buying. Pundits claim that previous measure to offer tax deductions would have little effect on the market. Tax cuts offered were up to 200,000 baht for buyers who purchase a property of up to 5 million baht

The fee cuts from 2 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively, will take effect following publication in the Royal Gazette. The publication will run for more than a year - until May 31, 2020.

Likely Losses

The government may likely lose 1.7 billion baht worth of revenue from the recent stimulus measure. The measure is meant for low and middle-income earners who want to buy Thai property not exceeding 1 million baht per unit.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak spokesman, Nathporn Chatusripitak, told the Bangkok Post around 2.87 million families in the low and middle-income household sectors do not own a home.

The measure is expected to provide homes to 58,340 families or approximately 175,020 people.

Expanding the Local Property Market

Mr Nathporn added that the measure will also stir up the domestic property industry. At present, there are many less than 1 million baht properties that are up for sale in the market.

In April this year, the cabinet allowed tax deductions of not more than 200,000 baht for condo and home buyers who purchased 5 million baht properties. This move is part of the new 21.83 billion baht stimulus measures.

The stimulus package is inclusive of public welfare benefits low-income earners worth 13.2 billion baht. This in addition to 8.62 billion baht tax measures.

Banning Vehicles That Harm The Environment

With the end goal of diluting environmental harm, the cabinet had also just banned the importation of second-hand cars.

The Commerce Ministry is set to declare a ban on used vehicles from passenger cars, buses to tractors and pick-ups. Not included in the ban are ambulances and locomotives.