Rising price trend set to continue in spite of criticism

VALUERS say Malaysian residential property prices are likely to continue on their upward trend this year, despite criticism of developers and speculators by a senior government adviser for pushing house prices to ridiculous heights, according to the Business Times in Singapore.

Daim Zainuddin, economic adviser to the government, recently described prices for Kuala Lumpur land and houses as ridiculous, artificial and inflationary.

He blamed developers and speculators for the rise and called them greedy.

'We should not give in to these greedy developers and speculators,' he said. 'It is your money and you can afford to wait out this artificial craze.' But the executive chairman of property valuer Rahim & Co, Abdul Rahim Rahman, said the residential property market would be a star performer this year.

'We find the best type of property is the residential market, especially for properties below M$300,000 (about HK$906,000),' he said.

Mr Rahim cited factors such as strong economic growth and relaxation of the Employees Provident Fund as being likely to result in higher demand.

The fund now allows its members to withdraw up to 30 per cent of their savings to finance the purchase of their first residential property.