Study: Residential property prices to surge after COVID-19 pandemic

PETALING JAYA (April 20): A “nationwide study” conducted by real estate sales and media company Juwai IQI revealed that “residential property prices are expected to surge in 2021” post the Covid-19 outbreak, reported Free Malaysia Today (FMT).

Even though Juwai IQI stated that residential property prices would “stagnate in 2020 with an increase of only 1.1%”, it is however “optimistic about .a post-pandemic recovery and expects residential prices to rise by 8.6% by 2021”, said group executive director Kashif Ansari.

“Amid all the uncertainty, property is viewed as a relatively safe investment that can provide cash flow.”

These figures were taken from the company’s “Q1 2020 Property Index and Survey for Malaysia”.

Ansari explained that Bank Negara Malaysia’s six-month moratorium on interest and principal payments for loans had also provided relief to property owners and “eased” the pressure on the real estate industry, reported FMT.

“The findings showed that Sarawak has the highest forecast rental growth at 5.4% in 2020. Penang has the most negative forecast, with rental rates there expected to fall by 5.8% in 2020.

“But looking forward two years, agents are more confident about rental rates. Nationwide, agents expect rental rates to climb by 7.1% by January 2022,” Ansari told the news portal.

He added that Malaysian property would continue to be “attractive to foreign buyers due to the country’s strategic location”.

“Our close proximity to countries such as Japan, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, which are the world’s largest cross-border property buyers, makes it even more appealing.

“For investors and first-time home buyers, now is definitely a good time to consider getting into the market, as there are attractive discounts offered by developers.”

The survey involved more than 340 real estate agents and was conducted from Feb 7 to March 19.

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