A real estate consulting firm expects growth in Penang’s property market to remain flat this year, on the back of the market’s wait-and-see attitude and unpredictable economic outlook.
Fook Tone Huat, Associate Director at Henry Butcher Malaysia (Seberang Perai) Sdn Bhd, pointed to the US-China trade war, property overhang issue and difficulty in obtaining bank loans as some of the factors that could affect the performance of the property market, reported Bernama.
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“On a positive note, the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC), which is a collaborative effort between the Housing and Local Government Ministry and the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association, might boost the residential property market’s performance to a certain extent,” he said at the launch of Henry Butcher’s Seberang Perai 2018/2019 property market report.
The HOC targets to resolve the housing glut in Malaysia by offering incentives like price discounts and stamp duty exemptions on instrument of transfer and loan agreement for homes priced from RM300,001 to RM1 million for first-time buyers.
“However, with the state’s property overhang issue in the limelight, I think it is unlikely for the property market to recover this year,” he said.
“If the economy can perform well with no global issues such as the US-China trade war, I believe that there could be a possible recovery next year.”
Henry Butcher Malaysia’s Seberang Perai 2018/2019 property market report revealed that Penang saw total property transactions increase 5.19% year-on-year to 8,292 during the first half of 2018. Total transaction value also rose 5.45% year-on-year to RM4.29 billion.
The increase came even as the overall property market sentiment remained soft.
It noted that total transactions at several property sub-sectors in Seberang Perai increased year-on-year, including the residential sector which registered a 0.74% hike and the industrial sector with a 5.15% increase.
Total transactions for commercial properties, however, dropped by almost 11%.
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