Property market set to pick up pace, says report

KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — Consultants have expressed confidence that Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) will continue post-Election 2013, Singapore’s Straits Times reported today. 

The programme is expected to inject US$440 billion (RM1.31 trillion) into sectors such as oil and gas, tourism, financial services and urban infrastructure.

The property market will also pick up again, analysts told the broadsheet.

“Now that the election is out of the way, the property market appears to be re-energised and we are confident of seeing substantial gains over the next three years in both Peninsular and East Malaysia,” Christopher Boyd, executive chairman of CB Richard Ellis, was quoted as saying.

He cautioned, however, that there would likely be a parallel increase in supply from developers who had held back new releases before Election 2013.

“From the third quarter onwards, we anticipate that continued high liquidity, additional public expenditure on infrastructure and renewed confidence in the future will all combine to bring residential property values to new highs,” he told The Straits Times.

While the newspaper reported that many Singaporean investors have been keen on Iskandar, the analysts it spoke to warned that the development in Johor is an untested market.

Consultants see good prospects for property in the Klang Valley — bolstered by the fact Malaysia is said to have the second-lowest property prices in Southeast Asia on a per square foot basis.

Brian Koh, the head of research and consultancy at DTZ Malaysia, told Straits Times that he expects Malaysian property prices to rise by 5 per cent to 10 per cent a year over the next few years, with the steepest increases in the Klang Valley market. - The Malaysian Insider