Property Hunter Magazine Issue 63- February 2015 | Page 67

PROPERTY?

Anticipating And Waiting

Since this has not worked yet, it
means that they would have to
should wait a little longer. Surely
the sellers cannot wait forever
since they have to continue
to pay their mortgages right?
Let’s be very objective in this
small disagreement. There are
many first time home buyers, of
course. Therefore they should be
assisted. However, if house prices
suddenly come down, it will affect
everyone who has a property
today. Every single home owner
in Malaysia. Do you think the
government, whether federal or
state would want to affect every
home owner in Malaysia? Think
about it.
Developers continue to ask
the government for more
exemptions, lower compliance

costs and many more things so
that they can sell their properties,
true? Yes, very true. However,
their argument from then till
now is to ‘maintain their pricing’.
All these would help them NOT
to increase the prices they sell.
Frankly, have they said that with
all these exemptions etc, they
would REDUCE their prices.
Every developer would want
profit but every developer is
also well aware that all their
previous buyers are also looking
at how they price their future
projects. Come on, first project
in the area might be RM500psf,
second similar project has to be
RM530psf and third project has
to be very slightly higher during
a slow market. However, do
you expect their 4th project to
be lower priced than their first
project? Think about it. If you
are the developer, what would
you do?
Okay, now let’s be even more
objective. If the current low
transaction numbers continue,
would the sellers not face
pressure to sell? Yes, of course
they would. They cannot hold
forever. If selling is not possible,
they would rent it out. Suddenly,
the answer is clearer. What if
they rent it out, can they hold on
for a longer time? The answer
is yes. The reason is because
even though the current rental
yield is no longer positive like
previously but based on the

lower prices that the owners
bought a few years back, their
current rental yield would still be
positive. No wonder the fire-sale
that everyone was waiting has
yet to come. Wait a minute, what
if Malaysia goes into a crisis?
If Malaysia goes into crisis, it
would not be just property prices
which would go down, everything
would also go down including
our yearly increments, our yearly
bonuses, the whole economy
would slow down and by then,
transaction numbers would drop
further. At that time, even if the
property prices are down, not
many people would be confident
enough to buy.
I believe we should take actions
based on what we believe in. If
we do nothing, then we would
get nothing. If we want to believe
the crisis would come soon,
then make sure we work hard
so that the company would keep
us and fire others. At that time,
we would be confident enough
to buy that property at the price
that we have been waiting for.
Your actions determine your
success. Just remember to guide
your actions objectively. Buying
the wrong property, irregardless
of good times or bad times is still
a disaster.

“

Every developer
would want profit
but every developer
is also well aware
that all their previous
buyers are also
looking at how they
price their future
projects.

“

T

here are still people
who believe that
state governments
would do their
best to help them
in their quest for
their first property. This belief
has truths because many state
governments do have plans for
more affordable homes. In fact
the total number for the next few
years exceed whatever number
that the state governments have
ever built on a yearly basis before
this. So, ok, this is quite true.
There are people who believe
that the cooling measures are
meant to reduce the house
prices.

www.PropertyHunter.com.my

67