5. Again, just based on anecdotal evidence from some bankers - Year 2013 will see the country's highest number of VP-ed units in history.  Fu-yoh! That's when we'll really see if people can flip so easily, or perhaps even service their installments.....

Thanks bro.

Property downgrade

PETALING JAYA: UOB Kay Hian has downgraded the local property sector due to slower residential home sales, especially in the second half of the year, coupled with an anticipated tightening of property measures.

The research house, which downgraded the sector from “overweight” to “market weight”, said in its latest note that sales launches by property developer might had slightly dampened with average take-up rates of 50% to 65% compared with 80% to 90% a year ago.

It said there could be cooling measures on the sector, namely the re-introduction of a real property gains tax (RPGT), loan-to-value cap at 70% for second mortgage and mortgage approval criteria based on net salary.

Although these measures might not have been put in place, it added that the impact had already been felt as most of the property stocks had fallen about 10% to 25% since last month and were now trading sideways.

UOB Kay Hian noted that most companies were trading at a 10% to 20% discount to their respective revised net asset value (RNAV). Selectively, the research house said it liked property developers that could still benefit from the rollout of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and positive news flow from Iskandar Malaysia.

It is maintaining its “buy” calls on MRCB (target price: RM3.02) and UEM Land (target price: RM2.68). The near-term catalysts for MRCB is the contract awards for phase 1 of River of Life and clinching parcels of RRI Land in Sg Buloh by year-end.

Signs are showing guys. Be prepared..