Compare to property market, those who bought in 2008, 99% would have made 200%-300% margin, very easily. Don't need to pick and choose, simply taruk also win.

But the same cannot be said in 2013, I admit. So do the stock market.

It is the choice of an investor who favour stock or property. I favour more to property, and less to stock. Not saying stock is not good, it give good returns too. But property has made way way more money than stock for me. Maybe I am unlucky to pick some stocks which didn't move as much. For one, I didn't pick Padini 

My stock gave decent returns actually. How not to gain some money when index went up to as high as 1800 ?  Even now 1700+ is just a notch from historical high, so those very much into stock are still bullish. As compare to property market now it start to become bearish. So I can understand those compare stock vs property has some preference to stock now

Yea in malaysian context, stock did fall from 1200 to 600 points from July - Dec 1997, and further down to 200+. But property market I did not hear a 50% price fall in short 1/2 year. In terms of risk, stock is higher than property, based on history of this country. Property is very steady in comparison

Apartment within 3rd ring road in Beijing and Shanghai is over rmb50k psm. Why only rm1k psf in kl not rm2k+ psf?

Bank Bumi merged with another bank to form Bumiputra bank ( ie BCB), and was later merged with 2 banks over 6 years ago to form CIMB with Dato Nasir leading the group.

Since CIMB was formed in 2006, it has acquired southern bank in 2007, and a list of foreign banking entities...

Wow! More and more good news

Property price can increased to stratosphere. However, without corresponding increase in income, price won't be sustaining.

Local property is not the only investment venue available to those with high income.

If the economy is as bad as speculated i think it's wiser for us to keep our cash and wait for stock exchange to go all time low.. mark a nice target and gamble from there.

bro, what's the stock which relates to nestle? Chui sui with my buddy he actually asked me how much i made... Told him the figure and to my suprise it's about the same to the earnings he made but the thing is that.. the initial investment he placed in was quite high as compared to me. 10% dp and legal fee's only. got 0 knowledge with stocks.. perhaps time to spend some time reading...    need buka account with OSK and this and that? really blur.

  he say he bought at rm35.. so cheap or not? political change will also impact the property value actually.

But penny stocks is really risky. Anytime it can tutup kedai then total loss.

I guess high risk, high return.

During the real-estate boom, Spanish house prices rocketed, rising by an incredible 200 per cent from 1996 to 2007, before plunging back down to earth when the bubble burst.

"It is a good time to buy property in prime locations at the right price. In the best areas of Barcelona city and Marbella it is possible to buy properties at a 50 per cent discount from 2007 prices," says Alexander Vaughan of Spanish estate agent Lucas Fox.

a two-bed apartment in southern Costa Blanca for €55,000 (£47,355)

http://www.independent.co.uk/

Condo price in Spain is cheaper than KV.

And salary is higher in Spain, so what does it mean?

We have to look at things in perspective.

Cars' prices in Malaysia are expensive in relative to our general incomes when compared to other countries.
That being said, its prices are low as a percentage of our income when compared to properties.
If someone has an annual salary of RM72k, then a Vios is probably worth about a year's salary.
But that same someone might need to fork out five or six times the amount for a property.
Thus, the burden from property loans are five or six times higher than a car's loan.

Secondly, who said cars prices never crash? It 'crashed' the moment the first purchaser signed the forms. 
Except for my first Proton, I had never purchased a brand new car before. I would go for subsales, especially for those around one year old European cars.

You know what, you are absolutely spot on! Property prices up a few years keep whining. Cars have been a bubble since god knows when. You see the number of expensive cars like city, civic, accord, vios, forte etc. Yes, those are freaking expensive cars for Malaysians. Notice I did not even mention the BMWs and the Merc. Those are astronomical in terms of Malaysian's level of income. Yet, Malaysians happily drive them. No complaints, man. Got lah, got complain, but nothing one, accept it and move on lo. The same thing with property, complain lah, but nothing much can be done lah. want to complain, start with the car first...persevere until you get the prices down..then only target property...

Relative to cars, Malaysian property should go up another 200%. Then, we can justify the car prices.

Yes, you are right when you said it is smarter (from purely financial point of view) to purchase property than car.

However the pyschological part cannot be applied on property. People know Apple's products are more expensive, yet there are die hard fans who is willing to pay due to various reasons. One of the most important reason is the relative price versus income. It might be RM500 more expensive compared to other brands, but that RM500 is minor in contrast to RM72k annual income. So people will just think, "What the heck, it's only RM500 more. Let's do it!"

It's the same for cars versus properties. It is not financially wise to pay RM50k more for a car, but people are more willing to do it because the total mortgage could be only 1-2 years worth of the salary. But to pay RM200-300k more, now that's another story. People will feel more fearful to commit to a loan worth 10 years of their salaries compared to 1-2 years' worth.

Secondly, I always talk about affordability. For someone earning RM72k, it might NOT be financially wise to purchase a RM100k car compared to purchasing a RM300k property. This is something I agree. But wise or not, he still can afford the RM100k car. But he can't afford, even if he wants to, buy a property worth RM700k.

And there is a mismatch between affordability and prices in the property market. How many million ringgit properties are in the market, and what is the percentage of people who can actually 'afford' them?

You can swap 7 RM100k cars for one RM700k properties, but in the first place who would have brought 7 cars at one go?

Ok, you think a person earning RM6k can 'afford' a RM700k property. Let's do a rough calculation:
Gross Salary at RM6000.
After EPF etc, RM5200

Food = RM900
Electricity, water, telephone =RM300
Travelling =RM450 (no car, only travel by taxi and bus)
Household groceries/cleaning etc=RM150
Insurance=RM250
General entertainment/expenses=RM200
Total RM2250
Balance RM2950.

Based on the month mortgage payment of RM2950 above, the amount of loans he could probably get is roughly only around RM620k, which is at already very low prevailing rate of BLR-2.4%.

Remember, for above I didn't factor in:
1) Car installment, which is a necessity in Malaysia, unfortunately.
2) Saving or investment for rainy days
3) Children's education and parent's pocket money
4) Income tax payment and other assessment fees

If die die also must do, I'm sure that person can buy a RM700k property. At the current interest rate, at least. What will happen if the rate adjusts upward? I remember those days when BLR shoot up from 6 point something % to 8-9% within 2 years. I think it was back in 1996-97. For those too young to remember, yes, it is real. 

In the above scenario, RM700k loan is NOT 'affordable' to someone earning RM6k in the real sense of the word. To me, something is 'affordable' when you can own it, and still live a fairly comfortable and good quality life.

Maybe many youngsters who came out to work in the past 10 years are so used to easy credit and low interest environment, so they feel everything is 'affordable'.
Perhaps that explains why our debt level is soaring in the past few years. 

My two cents: It's all about consumer psychology.

Both luxury houses and luxury cars are designed to be "consumed" by the "consumer" in order to improve his/her welfare. Taking out the "land" aspect, if the consumer desires a luxury car more than a luxury home, then buying a luxury car improves his/her welfare more than a luxury home. Nobody "needs" a brand new luxury home. They just desire it. The desire for brand-new luxury homes over older ones is just as rational (or irrational) as the desire for a brand new BMW. Or as rational as the desire for Apple over Acer, or drinking at bars and clubs over buying drinks at 7-11. A person who prefers a 200k luxury car over a 800k luxury property, could rationally choose to buy the car, and then use the balance of 600k to buy an older, less luxurious house in the same vicinity.

Currently, I see the Malaysian consumer trending towards desiring luxury homes. Price differentials between new luxury properties and older, more run down properties in the same area are huge. Luxury properties have nicer fittings, nicer landscaping, nicer gyms, nicer pool, nicer design, branding etc, and that's what you pay extra for. People are willing to forgo consuming many other desirable goods (like nicer food, cars, electronics, clothes etc) in order to purchase luxury homes because they desire the features and prestige of luxury housing. This desire is exactly the same as our established desire for expensive cars.  I'm not yet convinced that our recent consumer love affair with luxury housing at the expense of other goods will last forever, and I'm saying this as myself a lover of luxury fittings, facilities and landscaping. Only time will tell.

One last observation. I note that the prestige of driving a 3 series in Malaysia is more akin to the prestige of driving, say a 7 series or a Rolls in the West. The intangible value of the BMW brand is also a lot stronger in a country like Malaysia where such cars are comparatively rare. Heck, even an "affordable" Japanese or Korean sports car is looked upon like a Ferrari or Porsche in terms of prestige. There is therefore a lot more intangible value in purchasing a luxury car in Malaysia than in the West. Although this does not even come close to justifying the price for new cars, it certainly does so for grey market imports, and that's why these importers are seeing great sales.

You should understand that people are buying cars to evade tax in business, but you can't do that in property. In business tax, car is a depreciating asset and accounts for business cost spread across 3-5 years. Property is a fixed asset in your balance sheet which does not depreciate, so , not deductible for taxes. In other words, if this year your business makes a lot of money, let's say 1 mil profit, you tax should be around 250K. instead, you might decide to buy a 500K car, spread the cost across 5 years, (100K each year), and you save 25% off the car you purchased. That's a lot of money and perceived value. People will think you own a 500K car but in fact, it just cost 375K and it is out of company expenses. You can't do that with property and the worse part is LHDN might come after you after some time if you property appreciates and you have to record that in account as paper gain which is taxable profit.