Survey says property sector expected to stay strong

KUALA LUMPUR: PropertyGuru Malaysia, a real estate online portal with over 115,000 property listings, expects the property sector to remain strong, spurred by the quality of products coming into the market.

Although 82 per cent of respondents to its second quarter Property Sentiment Survey 2012 perceived current residential property prices as expensive, those priced RM150,000 to RM500,000 will continue to receive strong response, said its country manager, John Paul Sta Maria.

"Fuelled by liquidity in the market, banks are still willing to lend, albeit with stricter criteria and interest rates are still generally low, supported by population growth and urban migration," he said.

According to the survey, 70 per cent of the responses feel that property prices will increase in the next six months, as compared to 86 per cent in the same survey done in the second quarter of last year.

Some 36 per cent of the responses are holding developers as responsible for pushing the rising construction costs and high land prices to consumers.

Around 20 per cent are blaming buyers as pushing up prices, and 10 per cent say it is due to competition with foreigners.

PropertyGuru Group provides an integrated media platform that property developers and agencies can use to promote their brands and generate sales leads.

The group has direct presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, with partners in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Australia, India and China.

In Malaysia, its clients include over 60 local property developers, and more than 120,000 buyers and 15,000 agents database.

John Paul said based on the company's website traffic statistics, the majority of people who leverage on propertyguru.com.my are mainly locals, and about 18.4 per cent foreigners, led by Singaporeans.

He said in an interview that the latest trend now is using mobile apps to buy and sell properties.

By Business Times