How the Hong Kong protests are pushing wealthy Chinese to invest in Malaysia’s luxury housing market
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Green shoots of recovery are being spotted in the Malaysian residential property sector. According to one experienced real estate professional, the market is on track to record the highest number of home transactions since 2016. And while various government stimulus measures are credited with incentivising local buyers, fresh activity from international buyers – particularly from Hong Kong – is pushing sales figures upwards.
In the first half of 2019, 99,922 residential property transactions worth 34.65 billion ringgit (US$8.3 billion) were recorded, a rise on the 94,200 transactions worth 31.66 billion ringgit in the same period last year.
Official figures for the second half will not be available until February or March, but property veteran Michael Geh, senior partner at Raine & Horne International Zaki + Partners Sdn Bhd and current president of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) Malaysia, forecasts a full year tally of 204,840 transactions.
Geh, who bases his prediction on current trends and 10 years of tracking data, also expects the total value of these transactions will rise from 68.75 billion ringgit in 2018, to an estimated 71.03 billion ringgit this year. Not since 2016, when 203,064 units valued at 65.57 billion ringgit changed hands, has the market approached this level.
Geh expects the primary market to record around 35,188 transactions valued at 14.27 billion ringgit – an increase on the 31,993 transactions, valued at 12.91 billion ringgit in 2018 – and the secondary market to record 169,652 transactions valued at 56.76 billion ringgit, up from last year’s 165,392 transactions worth 55.83 billion ringgit. He attributes this growth to the many positive policies introduced by both the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the Ministry of Finance.
“Positive policies to spur the housing industry have been effective in moving the market in the first half of the year and this trend is expected to continue for the rest of this year,” Geh says.