Some special cases like PRs working in Singapore are the main buyers in Iskandar, KL and Penang. Mostly as holiday home and for retirement.

HDB is the best yield property in Singapore but I can't get my hand on one. Middle and upper class in general have quite a bit of spare cash once they are in their 40s onward.

Start small if you are risk-averse. Don't let the cases in your job cloud your mind. Spend some time trawling the show house to feel ground sentiment and spot good buys instead of waxing lyrical in the forums.

RPGT is a tax on profit, so it is still profitable. But I don't think I will be selling. Most Malaysians and Singaporeans are getting more affluent and population is increasing healthily (check household income data). Everyone needs a roof over the head, so the general trend is stable or up.

If property price crashes, the government and industry will be mired in a lot of debt, which will downgrade the rating. So it is counter to what the government has been doing to maintain the rating.

It is not about boasting but survival. Holding power is the key safety net. Nobody can predict exactly what will happen next.

Best is to have > 2 years of holding power in the event you have $0 income in between jobs or unable to work. It allows time think through to rework the best strategy and prevent fire-sale. If there is a recession, usually it is sufficiently long to ride it out and market can recover.

Good chance for Malaysia to become China and Hong Kong to some extent, where the newly weds can only afford to rent in the city. Malaysia lacks a transparent and committed system of low cost public housing for low to the bottom tier of middle income, similar to China and Hong Kong. Private housing developers through sheer cash (and possibly connection) bought up large and strategic pieces of land.

His targets r not locals.

How will the property market fare in 2014?
Dec 31, 2013 - PropertyGuru.com.my

Malaysia’s real estate sector is expected to remain vibrant next year, especially its middle and low-end segments, due to overwhelming demand amidst limited supply.

In fact, the country only has 4.6 million houses for its population of 28 million, or one home for every six Malaysians. According to experts, the ideal number is 2.5 persons per dwelling, just like in the UK and Australia. But with supply at 100,000 units per year, it is going to take a long time to reach this figure.

To make matters worse, Klang Valley’s current population of 7.2 million is expected to surge to 10 million by 2020 due to rapid urbanisation rate.

In addition, more international investors are projected to invest in Malaysia, particularly its real estate sector, due to the country’s robust economy and sound fiscal policies.

Due to the nation’s lower total deficit, Moody’s recently affirmed the government’s bond and issuer rating at A3, and changed its outlook from stable to positive. This means the country can easily get loans at lower interest rates and investors are assured that Malaysia can repay its debt obligations.

However, 2014 could also spell trouble for the property market due to a possible slowdown in China’s economy, a rise in global interest rates and the tapering of the third round of quantitative easing (QE3) in the United States by January.

Another worrying problem is the slowing demand for high-end properties despite their abundant supply. In fact, the percentage of unsold luxury houses in the primary market is climbing.

Nevertheless, Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz believes that the country’s real estate sector can weather the storm just like what happened in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. While the US housing market went bust during that period, its Malaysian counterpart remained resilient.

But the measure that could significantly affect the property market will likely be the upcoming real property gains tax (RPGT). Effective January 2014, the tax for houses sold within three years of purchase will be doubled from 15 percent to 30 percent.

For foreigners and companies, the RPGT is pegged at 30 percent for sales within five years and five percent for any subsequent year. But for Malaysians who sell their property within four and five years, the rate is at 20 and 15 percent respectively, while transactions after that period are exempt from the levy.

The six percent goods and sales tax (GST) which takes effect on April 2015 is also expected to affect the real estate sector even though the sale, purchase and rental of residential properties are exempt from it. This is because the sale of construction materials and equipment were not exempted, likewise for services used in building houses.

Meanwhile, the government will also be spending more on residential projects meant for low- and middle-income households.

For instance, the National Housing Department (NHD) under the People’s Housing Programme (PHP) has allocated RM578 million for 16,473 new dwellings, while another RM146 million has been earmarked for building 600 rental units.

In peninsular Malaysia, houses under the PHP are priced between RM30,000 and RM35,000, while those in Sabah and Sarawak have been pegged at RM40,500 per unit.

The government has also committed another RM1 billion for the construction of 80,000 additional homes under the 1 Malaysia’s People Housing Programme (PR1MA). These homes are 20 percent cheaper than similar units available in the market.

The authorities will also launch a new Private Affordable Ownership Housing Scheme, (MyHome). Under this programme, RM300 million will be given to developers so that they can build low- and medium-cost houses, subsidised at RM30,000 per unit.

They will also create an agency that will oversee the overall planning, policy and strategy formulation, as well as coordination and monitoring of all issues affecting Malaysia’s housing market. Dubbed as the National Housing Council, its members will come from state governments, federal agencies, SPNB, NHD and PR1MA, along with private sector representatives.

Farah Wahida, Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email farahwahida@propertyguru.com.my

http://www.propertyguru.com.my/property-ne...t-fare-in-2014-

KL average household size is about 3.72 (2010), which I extrapolate to about 3.5 in 2014 based on the decreasing trend over 30 years. Re-calculating using the article's data, KL needs about 800k houses cumulatively from current period to 2020 (6 years), so it needs a supply of 133k new houses per year. The article quotes 100k supply per year. Taking away some exaggerations, the demand and supply in terms of units approximately balance now. The issue is affordability. So demand for low to mid end housing should be healthy but high end ones are likely to suffer from oversupply, as what we have been seeing in recent years.

One correction: it seems that the actual 100k supply refers to entire Malaysia. For KL only, the supply should be much lower, which points to undersupply. I have other accurate data, but I will crunch them some other time for KL.

Exchange itself operates like a company, of course it will manipulate its data to look good, so that investors keep coming in to trade shares and companies continue to pay listing fees.

If you have staff, you have to pay them bonus and raise their salaries. All costs add up. But definitely developers are profiteering too.

There are always rich buyers and buyers with rich parents around. You should work in investment banking rather than only the foreclosure side to get a more balanced view.

I would like to encourage you to look at the brighter side of things and other ways to make more money to buy a house. A house is not only dollar and cents, there are intangible stuffs like pride being able to own a house. I was in your shoes before and was praying for a crash (that never happened) so I can roughly understand how you feel

This is good for the property market as it ensures only buyers with good financial background are allowed to loan for property purchase.

Singapore's property stagnation is a political move driven by e government. The number of launches r being reduced now, which is good to prevent oversupply in 2016 onward. 2016 is e election year. The money moves overseas to UK, Australia, US, Thailand and Malaysia instead since 2012.

Chances r these businesses r making use of the perfect reasons to raise their prices n profit. The groups tt gain from this r government (reduce debt), senior management (bigger pay rise) n business owners (increase profit). The biggest losers r e rest, who keep on praying tt e property prices will crash, not knowing tt other groups r making a killing n scooping up more properties locally n overseas.

For those worried abt affordability, e developers will just cut e size further for u. It has happened in Hong Kong n Singapore, n is happening in Malaysia. Win win situation.

I'm trying to convince you to buy since you are a bear

U r funny in a way, but u r right.