"No fire sale yet" in the property market, says consultant

PETALING JAYA (October 21): Despite the slowdown in the property market, there are no fire sales on the secondary market because of the strong holding power of Malaysian buyers, said Stephen Yew, executive director of The One Property International Sdn Bhd.

The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax has caused the public to spend prudently, and the weak market sentiment has caused homebuyers to stand at the sidelines.

The wait and see approach of both buyers and sellers has turned the property market into neither a buyer’s nor a seller’s market, said Yew, who is also a real estate valuer and surveyor.

“The main factors are non-performing loans and job security. Many people are looking for fire sales but there are no fire sales. The fact is that the subsale market sees lower asking prices, and not lower transacted prices," said Yew after a briefing on theedgeproperty.com for The One Property International team in Mutiara Damansara today.

Yew noted this tension may break next year, if the ringgit falls below RM4.50 to the US dollar, because of the adjustments the construction industry would have to make to account for the increased cost of new projects.

“Malaysians have the perception that they can earn more by investing in new projects and the weakening currency will not have impact on it,” he said.

On which locations and development types would be most affected by the weakening currency, he said mature areas such as Petaling Jaya would be less affected, given their stable volume of transactions. However, high-rise developments will be impacted due to the sheer volumes these entail.

More than 45 real estate agents and negotiators attended the briefing at The Edge Media Group’s head office today.

Yew noted that some features of theedgeproperty.com, such as news, analysis and valuation provide value to both homebuyers and negotiators.

“These tools can help agents check the value of subsale properties. It also helps discerning investors do their research before buying properties," said Yew.

Tools and features of theedgeproperty.com include advanced analytics by area and property type, advanced analytics based on projects (sales transactions, asking rents, surrounding projects), a hot spot tracker and free property listings.

Real estate negotiator Claudia Phang said theedgeproperty.com would serve as a platform for buyers to get more information and recommendations on market trends and data.

“I will recommend it to my clients so they can read and get recommendations from the news and research.”