The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (REHDA) hopes to get a positive response from the government to exempt residential properties from the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Its president, Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor, said REHDA has made the proposal to the government and was awaiting the response.

"We will try again as we still have time before the government enforces the GST next April," he told reporters at the REHDA Cares-Contribution to Malaysian Flood Victims event here today.

The association had earlier requested the government to put residential properties on the zero-rated list, to allow the developers to claim input tax from the building materials used in their developments.

Iskandar said REHDA was seeking the government's approval especially for the affordable housing projects below RM500,000.

He said the association aimed to help those who wanted to buy their first houses.

Iskandar said REHDA was concerned some states were charging a premium of up to 18 per cent on its land to developers currently, from three per cent in the last five years.

"This will definitely contribute to the higher costs of doing business, which might be passed on to consumers.

"So I hope that state governments like Selangor would help us lower the price of its land," he said.

REHDA today donated RM150,000 to the flood victims while its branches in Kelantan and Terengganu have distributed food and drinking water to the relevant relief centres there.