Property Market Holding On Well

In December 15th 2008, I issued a press release and also had a press conference. In this press conference, it was where we stated that the market for 2009 will be

• Stable with no crashes
• Prices will mainly drop for KLCC and Mont Kiara with no prices dropping below launch prices
• Landed Properties prices will in fact inch up in 2009
• There will be a flurry of launches after Chinese New Year 2009

In February 2009, we in fact stated that the KLCC and Mont Kiara markets have bottomed out and prices will be flat in 2009, pick up in 2010 and a mini boom in 2011

Many, including my fellow professionals thought I lost it and that I was an eternal optimist, whilst in reality I am just a realist and with strong pulse in the local market. I was call a contrarian, a brave man and many others, but it does fell good now, with the market reacting to how we have said it would.

E&O launched the St Mary Residences successfully a month ago and a week ago so the Temasya Glenmarie launch seeing people queueing a week to buy properties worth RM850k and above. SP Setia and Sime Darby have collectively sold more than RM2B worth of properties since after Chinese New Year, indicating a strong interest in the property market.

How is the market like moving forward? We still maintain that prices will be flat this year, with good landed properties inching up, prices will begin to move first quarter next year and peak in 2011/2012.

Major locations to look at include Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia, Penang Island and Kota Kinabalu. Landed properties, condos and office spaces are seen as investments to be focused on.

Issues to be concerned about are third party external factors that could drag the Malaysian market behind such as serious natural disasters in the region, H1N1 turning into a major pandemic in the region like SARs etc.