AMMAN -- Housing investors were downbeat Thursday following a meeting with Finance Minister Umayya Toukan over a demand to renew government incentives for homebuyers.
As government incentives have over the past three years helped the real estate sector regain its pre-global crisis performance, residential property builders tried on Thursday to convince policy makers to resume tax and fee exemptions granted to would-be homeowners, which expired by the end of 2011.
President of the Housing Investors Society (HIS) Zuhair Omari told The Jordan Times over the phone that the sector representatives were not optimistic.
"We did not get any response from the minister and we could not sense any understanding for the need to resume the exemptions," he said.
The Jordan Times tried to contact Toukan but he was not available to comment.
The incentives used to save buyers of residential properties between JD4,000 and JD10,000 per unit depending on the size, according to Omari, who stressed that the exemptions played a major role in stimulating the sector, which was severely hit by the global financial crisis, and ultimately improving the performance of the Kingdom's economy.
The real estate sector contributes to supporting 30 other industries, the HIS chief said, warning that not renewing the exemptions decision would limit purchasing power of buyers in addition to affecting negatively treasury revenues and the economy.
The society will continue its efforts to convince decision makers to maintain incentives to the sector.
According to official figures, trading in the real estate market grew by 8 per cent in 2011 over the previous year, reaching JD6.4 billion compared with JD5.9 billion in 2010.
© Jordan Times 2012
