News & Articles Residential property market to see growth in Q1
Residential property market to see growth in Q1
16 Mar 2015
iProperty Group, Asia's online network of property portals, expects the residential property market to see growth in the first quarter of this year despite the goods and services tax (GST) implementation on April 1.
It said the Malaysian property market would still enjoy demand, driven by a focus on home ownership, particularly from young urban population amid concerned about the effects of the GST.
"There is still growth. But it is undeniable that once the GST is enforced, the property market may slow down as buyers will likely adopt a wait-and-see attitude for six months.
"But we believe in the long run, perhaps 12 months later, the market will be strong as Malaysians become acquainted with it (GST)," iProperty managing director and chief executive officer Georg Chmiel said.
He was commenting on the group's Asia Property Market Sentiment Survey (H1) 2015.
The findings were gathered through a survey of more than 17,000 respondents, 40% of them from Malaysia.
Of the respondents, 73% aged between 21 and 40, 56% are investors, 21% are first time house buyers, 14% are just monitoring the market, and 9% are real estate agents and expatriates.
Kuala Lumpur HousingBased on the survey, 62% of the first time buyers plan to make a purchase between six and 12 months whereas 65% of the investors are to invest in two years' time.
Georg said the results were not surprising as Malaysia has a relatively young population and increasing urbanisation of the workforce, with a strong inclination towards owning a house.
The top three types of property preferred by Malaysians are terrace houses, condominiums or serviced apartments, and semi-detached houses.
Georg said although property prices in Malaysia have accelerated in the past few years, they are still deemed a good value due to good infrastructure by regional standards, and located in the vicinity of good facilities like hospitals and schools.
The depreciation of the ringgit has made Malaysian properties more attractive to foreign investors to the extent that the Selangor government imposed a new policy on property purchases last year, he added.
Foreigners are no longer allowed to buy all types of properties priced below RM2 million in most of the districts in Selangor.
Georg said 46% of respondents feel that other states should emulate Selangor by clamping down on wealthy foreigners from buying certain types of houses.
With a 60% increase in property launches throughout Malaysia, he said, "There are no such thing as oversupply of properties because people are still looking to buy them," he added.
It said the Malaysian property market would still enjoy demand, driven by a focus on home ownership, particularly from young urban population amid concerned about the effects of the GST.
"There is still growth. But it is undeniable that once the GST is enforced, the property market may slow down as buyers will likely adopt a wait-and-see attitude for six months.
"But we believe in the long run, perhaps 12 months later, the market will be strong as Malaysians become acquainted with it (GST)," iProperty managing director and chief executive officer Georg Chmiel said.
He was commenting on the group's Asia Property Market Sentiment Survey (H1) 2015.
The findings were gathered through a survey of more than 17,000 respondents, 40% of them from Malaysia.
Of the respondents, 73% aged between 21 and 40, 56% are investors, 21% are first time house buyers, 14% are just monitoring the market, and 9% are real estate agents and expatriates.
Kuala Lumpur HousingBased on the survey, 62% of the first time buyers plan to make a purchase between six and 12 months whereas 65% of the investors are to invest in two years' time.
Georg said the results were not surprising as Malaysia has a relatively young population and increasing urbanisation of the workforce, with a strong inclination towards owning a house.
The top three types of property preferred by Malaysians are terrace houses, condominiums or serviced apartments, and semi-detached houses.
Georg said although property prices in Malaysia have accelerated in the past few years, they are still deemed a good value due to good infrastructure by regional standards, and located in the vicinity of good facilities like hospitals and schools.
The depreciation of the ringgit has made Malaysian properties more attractive to foreign investors to the extent that the Selangor government imposed a new policy on property purchases last year, he added.
Foreigners are no longer allowed to buy all types of properties priced below RM2 million in most of the districts in Selangor.
Georg said 46% of respondents feel that other states should emulate Selangor by clamping down on wealthy foreigners from buying certain types of houses.
With a 60% increase in property launches throughout Malaysia, he said, "There are no such thing as oversupply of properties because people are still looking to buy them," he added.
Source: Kinibiz