Developers hammer house buyers, 'nasi lemak' analogy cited
The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) is not pleased with the National House Buyers Association (HBA) for urging the government not to intervene with regard to unsold high-end properties.
At a press conference in Kelana Jaya today, Redha president Soam Heng Choon also served a culinary argument to drive home the point...
The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) is not pleased with the National House Buyers Association (HBA) for urging the government not to intervene with regard to unsold high-end properties.
At a press conference in Kelana Jaya today, Redha president Soam Heng Choon also served a culinary argument to drive home the point.
“I think that was a careless and unreasonable statement," he said in reference to HBA secretary-general Chang Kim Loong stating that market forces were punishing the developers for not building houses suited for the domestic market.
Chang's statement followed Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin's proposal to market RM100 billion worth of unsold high-end properties to buyers from China.
Zuraida had proposed to open up the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) either in mainland China or Hong Kong.
She, however, later clarified that her proposal is meant to resolve the glut in high-end properties by marketing them abroad through the "Malaysia My Second Home" (MM2H) programme and not the HOC as previously mentioned.
In dismissing HBA's argument, Soam asked: "Which businessperson will want to do a product that nobody wants?”
"If you sell nasi lemak that people don't want, it will become stale nasi lemak," he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Soam (photo) also revealed the property industry survey for the first half of 2019 during the press conference.
He said the survey which involved 144 respondent developers showed that only one percent of the total 10,574 units of houses launched between January and June were priced above RM1 million.
The survey also showed 97 percent of house buyers were locals while three percent were foreigners.
He also addressed the concern raised following Zuraida's statement about foreigners owning houses in Malaysia, saying not many high-end luxurious houses were built for that market.
He said the houses purchased by the foreigners were priced at least above RM1 million while local buyers sought for properties with a lower price.
Soam also claimed that Malaysia is not on the top of the list with regard to foreigners who wish to purchase properties abroad.
"Are foreign buyers interested in Malaysia or not? Malaysia is not one of their favourite countries," he added.
He said the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme does not make it compulsory for foreigners to buy houses.
"There is no compulsion for any foreigner who under MM2H to buy a house. So, why make this into a fuss ?" questioned Soam.
Soam said there was a misconception that the developers tend to build high-end property.
Without elaborating, he said sometimes the issue played up for political reasons.
However, the Malaysian Reserve reported the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) was reportedly revealed that the residential supply overhang rose 1.5 percent to 32,810 units worth RM19.76 billion in the first half of 2019.
Of these, properties priced above RM1 million accounted for 4,231 units or 12.8 percent.
Meanwhile, Soam also welcomed Zuraida's proposal to organise a Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) either in mainland China or Hong Kong to attract Chinese buyers and investors.
"I think this is a good idea. The property left unsold for a long time, why not sell it to foreigners, and this is a category (of property) that a local (buyer) won't buy," he said.
He reiterated this would not affect the local housing market as both foreign and local buyers are purchasing different categories of property.
The survey released by Rehda showed a reduction of 15 percent of property units launched to 10,574 units in the first half of 2019 by 144 respondent developers.
They, however, recorded a spike of 15 percent in sales performance, said Soam.
Rehda vice president NK Tong said the association members sold 19,784 units properties totalling RM14.65 billion under the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC).
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