“How’s the Property Outlook for This Year?”
With the holidays in full swing, we had plenty of opportunities to catch up with old friends and associates, some of them experienced hands and insiders of the property business.
While most of the time we talked of other stuff, each time we talked about property, it was always around the question of “How’s the outlook for property this year?”. Well everyone has their own views, but by and large, most of them shared the same view repeated by a lot of people - high end homes and niche homes may soften, affordable and entry-level homes should be unaffected.
Of course, this is the ’safe’ view, obviously held by many, but that isn’t any indication of whether it’ll be true or otherwise. In reality, no one knows for sure, as much as no one can predict the future, not even the developers themselves. They have good instincts or gut feeling, but by and large developers have one (or at most 2 or 3) projects they can launch, how many mega-developers have so many ready-t0-launch projects to choose from to suit the market sentiment?
But coming back to the topic, this article by the Star, offers a different opinion.
WHILE 2007 will mark a neutral year for the mass property sector as a whole, the high-end and niche market is expected to continue flourishing.
The outlook for the high-end property developers is looking bullish, and this can also be attributed to the recent easing of rules by the Government on foreigners owning residential properties.
Analysts believe that despite the neutral property outlook this year due to excess supply in the market and cautious consumer sentiment, high-end developers will continue to deliver superb results and enjoy the benefits of the latest ruling. This trend has already been reflected in earnings of property companies.
For the full article, you can read it here.
sn’t there some talk by BNM that interest rate is going to fall this year hence making mortgage loan cheap for foreigners and locals to access. Oil price remain subdued and much lower compare to ths time last year (by the way, are we going to see a fall in petrol at the forecourt ths year or not?)Plus there is a big buzz about the local economy (increase in FDI) and global stock market are breaking records especially the FTSE and Dow jones index at the moment so the short term outlook 6-12mths will remain bullish in my opinion.
Comment by Feizal — February 21, 2007 @ 5:09 am
Feizal you are very guliable. You believe everything the government tells you.
Comment by Sara — February 24, 2007 @ 8:48 pm
When u read star paper u need to know how to read the fact, most of it are to create image for to hide the state of economy weaknesses to user for his next election.
About this star property article facts are facts u still need to yr judgment. Most investment done by this group of ppl are new to property investment, but with holding power.
Some foreign tenants from the previous rental market has become purchasers.
In 2 years we can see where our country is heading, Indonesia is the closest example i can c. Ignore me if u find it offensive, just my prediction. We are governed by individual benefit b4 ppl.
Comment by mcf — February 24, 2007 @ 11:45 pm
I admire people with pessimistic attitude as when things go bad you can say ” HaH I told you so” but when things turns out not the way you expected you can say ” Hah this is just a smokescreen because of election year”. No accountability and one can’t really discuss anything with that kind of mentality really. If you think the government is not right, what is your opinion to say it is not so so that i will not be as gullible?
Comment by Feizal — February 25, 2007 @ 7:34 pm
Gullible begin with oneself, maybe I didn’t where to start. My father always tell me the higher u go the smaller yr head is.
Comment by mcf — February 26, 2007 @ 11:23 am
let’s not get emotional about economy. i am an avid investor in downtown properties. in the past 2 years, i have seen property prices in the CBD rise by almost 50%. but i attribute this to rising material cost rather than demand. rental returns are not getting better so 1st time buyers benefit. despite the increase in price, you can see that there is a long list of advertised 2nd hand properties without any buyers. the value is there but there is no market.
Comment by sinleong — May 27, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
publised gov figure could be false but it won’t be too far away from reality but who knows about outlook even gov keeps on revising GDP from time to time.our country really depens on other countries economy.can’t even stand a small sneeze from powerful country.obviosly foreign buying helps in hi end property but how many foreigners will keep on rushing in for hi end property although the conversion of currency and property prices is cheap compare to other countries but rememeber we are ont metro or international city like shanghai dubai or mahatten where old international investors go and new one comes.pls find out the supply of hi end keep on rising are they all sold off right away?of course the basic attration still depends on location and price but in the broader sense in overall market the rise of supply’ll eventually out number demands 1)not enough foreign buyers coming in 2)supply out number upgraded buyers(older people)-noy many young people can afford luxurious property.our average income is very little as we all know.after all,i think maybe certain hi end developers are making money now but not at the later stage.it’ll be over supply sooner or later.not sure price will plunge but definitely not going up skyrocketing
Comment by kt — July 18, 2007 @ 12:10 am