KUALA LUMPUR – House prices in Malaysia are expected to climb 3% over the next 12 months and continue to surge by 12% in the following 12-month period on improved outlook.
In the rental market, although rent is expected to see only a 1% growth over the coming 12 months, it is forecast to increase by 8% after the third quarter of 2022, said real estate technology group Juwai IQI in its latest property survey released today.
“The outlook for Malaysia’s residential real estate market is improving,” said co-founder and chief executive Kashif Ansari.
“As we go about reopening and putting the Covid-19 pandemic behind us, we expect to see an increase in transactions and prices later this year.”
He said first-time homeowners are seen to be the real winners in the current market, with 35% of new purchases and 31% of sub-sale transactions in the first half of 2021 done by this group.
“First-time buyers are benefitting from the government’s policies. They have increased their savings and have a stronger motivation to buy their own homes because of the pandemic.”
Many people have spent less on travel, entertainment and other living expenses since the health crisis began, leading to higher savings, he said.
Kashif said 56% of the nearly 400 agents surveyed believe that first-time buyers will continue to be the group seeing the fastest rate of transaction growth for the remainder of this year.
“The states expected to record the most substantial first-time buyer growth are Penang and Perak, with three-quarters of agents in these states projecting an increase.”
On foreign buyers, he said the survey found that the share of transactions attributable to this group has fallen to the lowest on record: just 13% of the total purchases made from January to June.
“Foreign buying won’t recover until the borders reopen. And when that happens, their transactions will need to increase by more than 50% from the present levels.” – Bernama, July 5, 2021
