Friday 29 Mar 2024
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PETALING JAYA (Sept 29): The Malaysian property market has been rather lacklustre in recent years. Some say it is due to the cooling measures taken by the authorities as well as an oversupply in certain property sub-sectors.

What will it take to get us out of the doldrums? We probably need to start thinking out of the box and adopt new approaches to ensure market sustainability, offered Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (ASLI) CEO Tan Sri Datuk Michael Yeoh.

“I think the main challenge for the property sector today is the difficulty in obtaining end-financing, which is impacting developers’ sales. Hence, there is a need for new financing mechanisms for home and property financing that can make the property market more sustainable,” Yeoh told EdgeProp.my.

He believes the market is still buoyant although caution has to be taken in certain sectors and areas, such as the high-rise condominium segment in Iskandar Malaysia and some parts of the Klang Valley, as well as the shopping mall and office segments.

More on where the property market is heading will be discussed by speakers at the 20th National Housing & Property Summit 2017 organised by ASLI on Oct 5 and 6 at Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa in Bandar Sunway. EdgeProp.my is the official media partner for the event themed “The State of the Housing & Property Industry — Where do we go from here?”

PNB Development Sdn Bhd CEO Mohd Salem Kailany said an important issue that the residential property market is facing is the issue of affordability.

Mohd Salem, who will be speaking at the summit in a session entitled “Rethinking and Restrategising the Housing & Property Sector: The Way Forward”, said he will be talking about transit-oriented developments (TODs) and the use of the industrialised building system by developers towards more affordable housing.

“Providing affordable homes is becoming a vital issue to meet the rising demand for houses in line with population growth,” he said.

He added that the property market is expected to recover in 2018 and the TOD sector will see tremendous progress as developers are placing more focus on this segment.

This will negatively impact the industry in suburban areas as consumers would focus more on urban areas, he opined. “Hence, developers will have to come up with innovative marketing strategies and more collaboration with the government and investors.”

Meanwhile, Iskandar Regional Development Authority vice-president of planning and compliance Sakurah Jamaluddin will be giving a talk entitled “Special Update on the Iskandar Region — Future Prospects, Future Opportunities”.

Sakurah noted that although there may be an oversupply in Iskandar’s high-end property segment, which mainly comprises serviced apartments while demand for high-end landed residential property has slowed down, the demand for housing in the Iskandar region is expected to be strong going forward.

“Iskandar Malaysia will be attracting a work population that will comprise all levels of the workforce. As such, more supply is required as we go down the housing spectrum. By 2025, it is estimated that Iskandar Malaysia will have a population of three million with 817,500 jobs created, hence an additional 500,000 units of housing will be required,” she said.

Among other industry players who will be at the summit to offer insights into the property market and strategies to overcome the current issues challenging the market will be International Real Estate Federation of Malaysia president Tengku Datuk Abdul Aziz Tengku Mahmud, the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia president Datuk Seri FD Iskandar Mohamed Mansor, Malaysia Retail Chain Association president Datuk Garry Chua, and Selangor State Development Corp CEO Norida Mohd Yusof.

Log on to www.EdgeProp.my on Oct 5 and 6 for the latest coverage of the summit.

This story first appeared in EdgeProp.my pullout on Sept 29, 2017. Download EdgeProp.my pullout here for free.

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