A potential peak into the future? According to iProperty.com iProperty.com Asia Property Market Sentiment Survey (H2) 2015, buyers are more interested to buy only one or two years onwards. This meant that recovery in property transaction numbers would perhaps start in 2016 and may peak again in 2018. The survey polled over 15,000 respondents and 43% were from Malaysia. The majority were between 21 and 30 years old. As everyone would have have, 2015 is to be ignored as this is an extremely slow year, especially for new launches. Huge stocks from launches remain unsold. Read here: More below RM500k units but unsold units at 78 percent
The percentage of respondents saying they will buy a property within less than 12 months have fallen from 58% six months ago to 50 percent today. In fact the numbers of pre-GST and post-GST showed that post-GST, the percentage of people looking to buy has also increased. For example, those who are looking to purchase after two years have also increased to 16% post-GST, from 12% pre-GST. According to the survey, the favourite would be for properties priced from below RM500,000 to RM1 million and condominiums is the favourite choice. (Actually, there are not many landed properties within this price range, in areas that the buyers may love as their primary choice)
iProperty.com’s CEO Georg Chmiel also pointed out that the Malaysian real estate is very affordable even within the ASEAN region. He said the this is because of the average property price being RM376,200 for a 900 sq ft property and a with a gross development product per capita average of RM63,403. This meant the purchasing power parity for property value to income ratio is 5.93. (Of course, some would point this out as unaffordable but I think everyone should just buy within their affordability and not what everyone wants to buy) He said, “Even if property prices (in Malaysia) were to double, they will still be affordable. From an outside perspective, you can spend a lot in Hong Kong and Singapore, or spend a fraction in Malaysia.”
According to the survey, many respondents are now having a wait-and-see attitude. This corresponds with what people in the industry are saying today. We must however take note that this has got nothing to do with demand. In terms of actual need for homes, it is very conservative to say that the property market has a long way to go before reaching the levels of developed nations. Just look at the demographics of Malaysia currently. 
As for those adopting a wait-and-see attitude, perhaps a better attitude may be the view-and-offer one. View the properties that you wanted to buy, offer them a price you are willing to pay. Who knows, you may just get it. Happy reading and understanding that surveys are great for us to know what the majority thinks. However, the majority has never been that minority group of top wealthy in all countries. That’s the reason why the top 20 percent normally holds the 80 percent of the wealth.
written on 14 Nov 2015
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