New beats second-hand for Malaysian homebuyers
Despite the ample supply of homes on the secondary market, up to 36 percent of Malaysians have been revealed to prefer to buy a new home rather than buy from the secondary market. This was revealed in a recent study by PropertyGuru.com, Asia’s leading property site for property listings and marketing intelligence.
The PropertyGuru Malaysia Property Market Sentiment Survey Report showed that a large segment of potential home owners would still prefer a new home as their first choice compared to 17 percent who would look to the secondary market as their choice. One in two buyers will continue to visit developers’ showrooms rather than go through real estate agents.
Whilst there are plenty of good deals in the secondary market, potential buyers have cited a slew of compelling factors that speak in favour of buying a new home. One of the key reasons cited include attractive sales packages from property developers, especially for middle income or younger buyers who may not have plenty of capital or savings to cover initial purchase costs such as the 10 percent downpayment, legal fees, moving costs and other fees.
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“As mentioned before, many Malaysians especially from the middle-income mass segment are in the perfect storm of unaffordable house prices, lack of savings for a downpayment and the inability to secure a loan. Many buyers aged 35 and below will find sales packages by developers attractive, as these are structured to reduce initial upfront costs and allow them to become homeowners. Factor in other incentives such as free home appliances, fixtures and so on and the total offering becomes very attractive,” explained PropertyGuru Malaysia’s country manager Sheldon Fernandez.
According to the survey, most Malaysians (47 percent of survey respondents) opt for 90 percent home financing, while 12 percent managed to secure 100 percent home loans. About a quarter of property buyers accepted home financing of 70-80 percent.
The survey also touched on other factors highlighted by buyers. These included fewer problems with bank valuations when applying for financing, less worries about maintenance issues and the simpler process of dealing with one party rather than having to engage real estate agents or even haggle with sellers.
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“There is often a nagging concern of whether I have negotiated the right pricing, especially when it’s your first time. Is there something that the owner and agent are not telling me? The learning curve can be high with a good chance for mistakes to happen,” added Fernandez.
While purchasing a new home may look like the hassle-free solution to home ownership, buyers are still advised to conduct their due diligence, which includes research and comparing different products in the same area including price per sqft and other factors. These information may be available from independent third party sources such as PropertyGuru’s New Project Reviews section aimed at consumers.
The full story was originally published by PropertyGuru.com.my on 20 April 2016.
Source : property-report.com
Read more…Survey says… Malaysians still prefer new homes
