Headline: Hair today, gone tomorrow
NST Property Talk by Andrew Wong , Oct 7, 2011
INTERESTING times these. As property developers in the world's mightiest economies chart out plans to lower their property prices, ours think it imperative that theirs be raised.
Tan Sri Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah, majority shareholder of E&O Bhd, gave a memorable quote during an interview with another English daily that went something like this:
"As we speak, financial and equity markets across the globe are looking mighty wobbly, holding out the promise for those with spare cash a rare opportunity to buy quality investments at near fire sale prices ..."That's what investors expect today: Fire sale prices.
And that's what Hong Kong's builders are providing.Noticing an alarming 35 per cent drop in sale transactions to a point not seen since the beginning of the 2008 global financial crisis,
billionaire Li Ka-Shing's development arm Cheung Kong recently launched a large residential project in Tseung Kwan O for 20 per cent below the market's expectations.An analyst observed that this put the offer of a brand new home even lower than a completed unit for sale on the secondary market in the area which "is quite rare".
The reason for Cheung Kong's move was to counter the diminishing appetite of buyers by giving them something they couldn't resist. And the strategy is working ... even to the point where rival developers are being pressured into doing likewise due to fears of a worldwide recession that could hit Southeast Asia by next year.
Rather than hold onto the hope of fat profits, the developers there pragmatically seem to be willing to take haircuts now in order to have the cash with which to ride through the lean times.
China's builders too are thinking along the same line."Developers likely to cut prices 15 per cent" screamed a South China Morning Post headline mid last month, following government measures to cool the property markets of key Chinese cities, which resulted in sales falling by 12 to 13 per cent.
"Developers of China's residential properties are expected to adopt a pricecutting strategy to boost sales as cautious home seekers are reluctant to enter the market during what is usually the peak season," read the SCMP story.
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Will it happen in Malaysia's Developer like Mahsing???