KUCHING, Aug 14: Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Sheda) Kuching chairman Sim Kiang Chiok opined the present outlook of property sales for both commercial and residential units will be less during the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) period due to economic uncertainty.
According to Sim, in Malaysia, the bank moratorium and wages subsidy will end in September 2020, and if there are any loan defaults and liquidation, it will only start to surface early next year.
“Of course the government is helping through the targeted assistance by the banks for those who lost their jobs and loss of businesses, as announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the end of July.
“With many businesses being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic due to social distancing and reduced dealing with customers at any one time, the demand would only be from those whose work security are not affected such as the civil servants, government-linked company (GLC) employee, Top 20 per cent (T20) earners and the upper Middle 40 per cent (M40),” he said in a press statement today.
At the same time, Sim noted, for commercial properties, those that are in a good location will still be in demand, and the most popular locations for property sales for the residential area are in the Samarahan area, where the town is growing very fast due to the ever-growing universities and colleges.
He said the prices of houses there are are still reasonable, and the other popular new areas are the Tabuan Jaya area towards Samarahan, Batu Kawa, all the way to Sungei Moyan and Matang Jaya area,” he said in a press statement today.
“For commercial properties, the popular area is Tabuan Jaya area, Kota Sentosa and area where there is heavy residential population of good income earners.
“The prices of houses in this popular areas can range from RM600,000 to RM850,000 for two-storey terrace house, and for typical three-storey shop at prime location are from RM1 million to RM1.8 million per unit,” he added.
Sim explained at the moment, the prices of houses are steady and there is no price war and the government is helping to spur demand by promoting the Homeownership campaign (HOC), where stamp duties are waived for Sales and Purchase agreements, including loan agreement, and participating developer will have to give at least 10 per cent discount off the selling price.
“This is part of the incentives to spur the property markets. The Real Property Gain Tax (RGPT) is also relaxed for up to three properties and 3rd housing loan is not subjected to Bank Negara ruling of 70 per cent margin of housing loan. This incentive is available till the end of May next year,” he said. –DayakDaily
