Property Hunter Magazine September Issue 2014 | Page 90
/// Hot Topic
Jesselton Residences
Pedestrian Boulevard, Sutera Avenue
Prime developments have shown a higher
degree of resilience by being able to better ride
out financial crisis and bounce back to restore
investor confidence compared to other types of
property. But what factors contribute to this
resilience and are you primed for prime property
investment?
Sutera Avenue
global business information and
media group, Ms Heaton again
voiced her confidence in the UK
property market to continue thriving
despite worries of a UK market
“bubble”. She said, “England had
experienced very strong levels of
growth traditionally and between
1996 and the onset of the credit
crunch in 2007, average annual
growth had been 9.65%.”
Indeed, in 2002 and 2004 it was
16.1% and 14.8% respectively. The
market has a habit of self-regulating
itself and when it overheats or
mortgages become more expensive
it becomes unaffordable and prices
tend to flatline.”
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Malaysia is still in its infancy if
compared to a matured prime
property market like London. It
has fared relatively well and even
with the recent cooling measures,
itis expected to remain stable for
the second half of 2014 and into
2015. But its resilience is yet to be
fully tested and this is one of the
list of indicators put forward that
will determine if a city or country’s
property market will have a longterm future.
Resilience Indicators
There seems to be a common
practice amongst governments to
equate rising property prices with
increasing affluence. While housing
prices are often used as a yardstick
to measure economic health in many
countries, increasing prices are great
when you have growing equity in
your property but not so great if you
have to max out on lending just to
get in on the action.
So what should you consider before
investing a huge sum of money in
prime property in Malaysia?
A report on Resilient Cities by
international real estate company
Grosvenor International Research
cited that apart from a stable pattern
of urban and population growth,
adaptability as one of the main
indicators of resilience.
In the report’s foreword, its CEO
Mark Preston quoted:
“At Grosvenor, we realise that a
city’s long term success cannot be
measured on annual volatility and
returns alone. We need to evolve
our approach and analyse the
risks and opportunities of cities
holistically, taking into account their
geographical location, governance,
predicted population growth and
resources, amongst other things. We
need to know how vulnerable they
are, but also understand their ability
to adapt and improve. We need to
establish their resilience.”
Malaysia has a proven list of the
qualities to attract prime property
investors– geographical location,
accessibility, communication,
excellent public, health and
educational facilities and a thriving
property development industry.
Property investors in Malaysia now
have more information available to
them to help them decide on what
to invest in. Knowledge is power and
the more data you have, indeed the
more you are able to invest wisely.
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