Property market only expected to recover in 2018

PETALING JAYA: The property market is only expected to recover in 2018, Malaysian Property Summit Mid-Year Review 2016 committee member James Wong told TheEdgeProperty.com.

“Based on the current economic conditions, weak property market sentiment and oversupply, we are not anticipating a recovery in the second half of 2016. We are also expecting the property market to be stable and flat in 2017,” said Wong.

The Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultants in the private sector of Malaysia (PEPS) will be organising the Malaysian Property Summit Mid-Year Review 2016 on July 27 at The Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur. TheEdgeProperty.com and The Edge Media Group are the media partners.

Malaysian Property Summit Mid-Year Review 2016 organising chairman Elvin Fernandez concurred with Wong, adding that the residential market may not be as severely affected as the commercial sector.

“There are still a lot of genuine buyers in the residential market looking for homes. Even if there are speculators in the market, there are not enough of them to overturn the market due to their small number as compared to genuine home buyers,” said Fernandez.

“However, in the commercial sector, we see continuous incoming supply of space such as in the office and retail sections. This has definitely placed some pressure on the rental market. Shopping centres may also face new challenges due to the decrease in consumer spending as the increase in income is not proportionate to the increase in the cost of living,” he added.

According to Wong, the market was evidently quiet in 1Q2016. According to the National Property Information Centre (Napic), the volume and value of transactions in 2016 recorded a decrease of about 14.4% and 17.9%, respectively, compared with 1Q2015.

“Owing to the current weak property sentiment, developers have begun to come up with many innovative marketing strategies such as the developer housing loan assistance package, rebates and discounts, as well as bearing the legal fees for SPA and loans,” said Wong.

Meanwhile, Fernandez noted that it is important for quality information to flow into the market so that it can remain efficient in the current conditions.

“This summit organised by PEPS is not just a presentation of data and facts. We will have industry experts going in depth into various property topics and the outlook. Participants will also be able to take back slides and notes in thumb drives, which they can refer to later on,” he added. The committee is aiming to get 500 participants for the summit.

“PEPS has, for the first time, decided to organise a mid-year review of the property market for Malaysia owing to the changing dynamics and to update participants about the actual situation today as well as to take stock and make recommendations on what can be done to ride the property storm,” said Wong.

“We have lined up 14 distinguished speakers to cover all the pertinent subsectors, analyse the state of the local economy and how it will impact the property market and its direction. We will probably have recommendations on where and what the hotspots are and the types of properties to invest in with this slow market,” Wong added.

TheEdgeProperty.com will be running a competition from June 20 to July 20 on its website to give away 10 tickets to the mid-year review summit. Participants just need to fill up a form with their details and complete a slogan of no more than 50 words to stand a chance to win the tickets.

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This story first appeared in TheEdgeProperty.com pullout on June 17, 2016, which comes with The Edge Financial Daily every Friday. Download TheEdgeProperty.com here for free.