Slightly up. Recovery in property market Malaysia?

What are your thoughts about the current state of property market? Getting worse? Or even that property bubble bursting prediction? Hopefully we are wrong in our assessment. Knight Frank is telling us otherwise; market is actually getting better.  Should be a piece of good news right? This was what Knight Frank shared in an article in theedgemarkets.com. “Malaysian property market saw gentle recovery in 1H18” It said that this was also following the strong economic growth momentum after the 14th General Election. (By the way, it’s only less than 2 months after GE when we talk about 1st Half of 2018 yeah. However, I think the GST becoming zero has helped in making the sentiment more positive. The car sales has been so good that all those car stocks without GST has already been sold! Here’s an earlier article:  People are simply buying! Not everyone needs new cars right?)
Coming back to Knight Frank Malaysia’s assessment. Malaysia Associate Director of Residential Sales and Leasing, Kelvin Yip said that for the residential segment, the market sentiment improved during 1H18 and Kuala Lumpur remained one of the well-liked destinations for property buyers and investors. It added, “During the first half, potential buyers and investors switched away from a ‘wait-and-see’ approach and are now genuinely seeking good bargains in the market. This trend reduced the chances of a sharp correction in the residential property market as we expect stronger demand to continue and the oversupply situation to be less severe.” He also said that with being more aggressive in their promotions, and based on current trends, more transactions are expected in 2H18. Full article here in TheEdge for reference.
Ready to believe Knight Frank’s assessment? Please be savvy to the fact that all these assessments are always based on overall numbers. There are bound to be still some below-market-value properties out there which is waiting for those looking for one. As for buying one and quickly flipping, this assessment would also tell us that the possibility of that happening is low. I am still waiting for the direction of where the economy would be heading. As of now, there’s just too many uncertainties. For example, those public transportation projects. Cancel or not cancel? Or is it just going to be delayed? Earlier news here: MRT Line 3 can be later but better have it.In fact, even the HSR has no firm direction yet because we (our Economic Affairs Minister) will only be meeting his counterpart end of July. That’s still many days more. Fortunately, these are not negatives but merely uncertainties. Hopefully everything clears up soon and we have a direction to look forward to.
written on 28 July 2018
Next suggested article: Property prices affected due to LRT 3 cancellations? (6 stations)