by Charles Tan

Which is the most unaffordable property market in the world today? Hong Kong. Who said so? US-based Demographia based on their survey. According to them, Hong Kong’s median hoe price was more than $S4.02 million compared to the median income which was only HK$270,000. Few weeks ago, Malaysia was said to be severely unaffordable at 5.5 times. (Median income to median house price). For Hong Kong, this is nearly 15 times. How should we label them? If you think due to this, Hong Kong is poised for a bubble bursting, think again. According to real estate professor Eddie Hui Chi-man of Polytechnic University, property prices would continue to increase for the next 2 years because new housing supply will not increase significantly until 2016. This is based on statistical numbers. He said, ‘It’s impossible for salary income to catch up.’ One key reason was because the government did not increase the land supply and the Home Ownership Scheme for flats was only restarted in October 2011, after a 9-year absense.

How expensive is expensive? Well, in Hong Kong, due to the extreme high prices, the new flats being ordered these days can be as small as 160sf!! Yes, 160sf. Demographia said for housing to be affordable, the house prices must not exceed three times the median salary. Anything higher needs intervention from the government with respect to the land supply, infrastructure planning, provisioning and financing. I think this is already being done actively by Singapore via its HDB programme. In terms of success? Well, perhaps due to this, Singapore’s median home price is still at 5.1 times versus gross annual median household income. Without the intervention, perhaps Singapore would be closer to what Hong Kong is experiencing?

Personally, it’s not hard to understand when the population is increasing and the land size remain small, the prices go up. However, another reason why prices go up may also because of the sudden increase in demand while supply did not increase fast enough. Thus, when supply catches up, the prices would stay stagnant or even decrease. However, when it is not an island why do house prices increase? The main reason is thus the popularity of a certain area versus others. It’s not even necessary be close to the city centre! Just that feeling when you are driving in your neighbourhood. Thus, it’s much harder to control these ‘emotions’. That’s why prices will continue to increase for popular areas even when more affordable units are built. In fact it will increase until everyone who can afford them has bought one unit somehow or somewhere else. We shall see. Happy buying, OBJECTIVELY.

>> This opinion article comes courtesy of Charles, the founder of kopiandproperty.com. He is popular for sharing his thought on property investment mostly based on his own 11 years experience as well as from all the readings and conversations with property gurus in the industry. (Source)

Prospective buyers of 1Malaysia People’s Housing (PR1MA) homes can expect guaranteed financing to buy them.

The scheme will enable buyers, who were successful in the balloting, the option to get their own financing or choose from PR1MA panel bankers, said PR1MA Corp Malaysia chief financial officer Hasleen Isnin.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will launch the scheme in January.

It is targeted at the middle- income group with a household income of RM2,500 to RM10,000.

Under the scheme, Malayan Banking Bhd, CIMB Bank Bhd and Malaysia Building Society Bhd will offer loans of up to 110 per cent of the sale and purchase price at zero-entry cost.

Hasleen said the financing would cover legal fees, stamp duty and valuation fees, as well as the option to start paying instalments upon signing the sales and purchase agreement (SPA), or after the handover of keys.

“If buyers are unable to secure a loan with the panel banks, PR1MA will step in and buy the property with the rent-to-own (RTO) option for buyers.

“However, applicants must apply to the banks before they are eligible for the RTO. This is to prevent them from taking a shortcut without trying to get a loan first.”

No down payment is needed under the scheme. Buyers will be covered with Mortgage Reducing Term Takaful from death and total permanent disability.

In September, PR1MA Corp Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Dr
Jamaluddin Jarjis announced the launch of RTO to help first-time buyers who were unable to secure loans but needed a home.

Hasleen said RTO would allow buyers to own properties by paying rent with the option to buy the properties at any time.

“In cases of misfortune, such as retrenchments and death of buyers, family members are waived from paying rental for up to a year.”

PR1MA Corp Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Mutalib Alias said RTO would be offered in two variants: RTO with savings and RTO without savings.

After 10 years, a buyer may purchase the property at its SPA price, or it will be given back to PR1MA.

“However, I foresee many will opt to buy the houses as future property prices would have risen significantly,” he said.

As at Oct 20 this year, 97,887 units have been approved by PR1MA in 32 locations nationwide.

Mutalib called on Malay reserve and endowment (wakaf) landowners to come forward as PR1MA was seeking land to be developed.

“If the location is suitable and the price is reasonable, we will consider buying it from the owners and develop more PR1MA homes.”

Source: New Straits Times Online

Valencia, an on-going strata residential development by Aman Setia Group in Bayan Lepas, Penang. It is located along Jalan Bukit Belah, off Jalan Teluk Kumbar, next to the upcoming Setia Sky Cube project by SP Setia.

This development comprises a 22-storey residential tower with 64 condo units. Each unit will come with a storeroom for golf set and bicycle at ground floor.

VALENCIA RESIDENCE SHOW UNIT
[View in FULL SCREEN]

Property Project : Valencia Residence
Location : Teluk Kumbar, Penang
Property Type : Condominium, 3-storey semi-d & bungalow
Tenure : Freehold
Built-up Area: 2,110 sq.ft. and 2,670 sq.ft.
Total Units : 64
Developer : Aman Setia Group

Location Map:

SITE PROGRESS

SITE PROGRESS: Valencia Residence (Sept 2021)

SITE PROGRESS: Valencia Residence (May 2021)

SITE PROGRESS: Valencia Residence (Aug 2020)

The property market will not see a downturn in 2015, despite the slowdown over the past three quarters, said Malaysia Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) president Siva Shanker.

He also expects the property market to pick up in 2016 and 2017. Siva was giving a talk at the Annual Malaysian Market Outlook — Rounding Up 2014 on Tuesday.

“The favourable outlook is due to a healthy national economy and low foreign investment exposure of 5% compared with Singapore’s 40%. We believe the property market will be consolidated in 2015 before peaking again in 2016 and 2017 based on the property cycle over the years,” said Siva.

Besides Siva, the property outlook on the three major property segments of the Klang Valley, Johor and Penang was presented by other MIEA representatives and Y Y Lau from JLL Property Services (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

In Penang, increased activity is expected in Simpang Ampat, Juru and Tambun on the mainland stemming from the second bridge which created additional access to and from the island, Penang airport and industrial areas.

MIEA Penang state branch chairman Mark Saw said investors will capitalise on the improved infrastructure.

MIEA Johor state branch chairman S Vadeveloo said the Johor property market will be healthy going into 2015 as investments are supported by positive economic growth in Malaysia and Singapore.

“This will help sustain demand. Although the slowdown is expected, it will be short term,” said Vadeveloo.

However, Vadeveloo is cautious about the sustainability of property prices in Iskandar Malaysia, especially for high rise-apartments and retail space.

“Ample supply and whether demand can keep pace with incoming supply is causing concern [over prices] of condominiums and retail spaces,” said Vadeveloo.

Meanwhile, landed homes will continue to be popular and should prices in the primary market continue to trend upwards, Vadeveloo expects buyers to veer towards the secondary market where prices are between 20% and 30% cheaper compared with similar products in the primary market.

Source: The Edge Markets

* Article by Richard Oon *

While presenting the recent Budget 2014, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and when enacted, GST will be effective from 1 April 2015 and standard rated supplies will be subject to GST at a rate of 6%. With the introduction of GST, the current indirect taxation systems of sales tax and service tax will be abolished on the same date.

What is GST?

GST which is also known as the ‘value added tax’ (VAT) in many countries, is a multi-stage consumption tax on goods and services, which ultimately falls on the final consumer.GST is levied on the supply of goods and services at each stage of the supply chain from the supplier up to the retail stage of the distribution. Even though GST is imposed at each level of the supply chain, there is no compounding tax effect, regardless of the number of stages a product or service undergoes in the supply chain, as GST is only charged on the value added element at each stage in the supply chain. This is achieved through net of ‘output tax’ (the GST on the goods and services sold by you) minus ‘input tax’ (the GST you paid on the raw materials, equipment and services used in your business) mechanism adopted under the GST administrative process.

GST is a broad-based consumption tax covering all sectors of the economy i.e all goods and services made in Malaysia including imports except specific goods and services which are categorized under zero rated supply and exempt supply orders as determined by the Minister of Finance and published in the Gazette.

GST will be charged on any supply of goods and services if the following conditions are satisfied:

1. it is made in Malaysia;
2. it is a taxable supply of goods or services;
3. it is made by a taxable person; and
4. it is made in the course or furtherance of any business carried on by that taxable person.

A taxable supply is a supply which is standard rated (6% under current proposals) or zero rated, whereas exempt and out of scope supplies are not taxable supplies. GST can only be levied and charged if the business is registered under GST. A business is not liable to be registered if its annual turnover of taxable supplies does not reach the proposed prescribed threshold of RM500,000. Therefore, such businesses cannot charge and collect GST on the supply of goods and services made to their customers. Nevertheless, businesses can apply to be registered voluntarily.

So how will GST implementation impact property prices?

Properties from the primary and secondary markets will be treated differently when it comes to GST implementation. Even though it has been proposed that residential properties are deemed to be exempt supplies (ie. the developer cannot charge housebuyers GST), you will realise that the developers will still be subject to GST on the construction materials and supply of various services. As the developers will have to pay for the input tax (ie. GST) on those construction materials and other services, they are unable to claim output tax as GST is not imposed on residential properties. Consequently, the GST element of the costs of construction would eventually be passed on to the housebuyers. In the case of commercial properties, the developers will have the relief of claiming GST incurred as input tax as they are able to charge output tax (GST) on the buyers. In the case of a mixed development of both residential and commercial properties by a developer, the proportion of GST incurred in relation to the construction of residential properties cannot be passed on and absorbed by the construction of commercial properties either.

Some may argue that cost of construction may instead reduce, considering that the rate of sales tax in Malaysia which is currently 10%, will be abolished and replaced by the 6% GST come 1 April 2015 and this would in fact translate into some savings on the cost of construction materials. However, it would be worthy to note that pursuant to the Sales Tax (Rates of Tax No. 2) Order 2012, the sales tax rate on most building materials enjoy a preferential sales tax rate of either 0% or 5% as at 31 December 2013. So in fact, the tax element of construction materials would in reality, increase!

How about sub-sale properties?

Post-GST implementation, there will be no GST implications when you buy or sell a residential property from or to the secondary market, as it is an exempt supply.
So the question is how should we position ourselves as a property investor with this latest development and how can we take advantage of the pre and post GST implementation?
For those who like to know more, I have been invited to share about the impact of GST to the property market in Penang on 29th Nov 2014 at Evergreen Laurel Hotel. I will be sharing in more details about what it means to you as a property investor and property owner. At the same time, I will also go into details about GST in the broader sense and the introduction and implementation of tax related matters. In addition, I will also talk about the recent Budget 2015 announcement and highlights on what’s in store for us as an investor.
We are expecting a full house and as seats are limited, I would suggest that you to click here to know more and book your seat NOW: http://www.AboutPropertyInvestment.com/

>> Richard Oon is the National Tax Director of TY Teoh International, a member firm of the MSI Global Alliance, which is one of the world’s largest independent associations of accountancy and law firms. Richard is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), a fellow member of the Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia (CTIM) and also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). He has more than 20 years experience in the taxation industry and holds a tax agent licence issued by the Ministry of Finance under Section 153 of the Income Tax Act 1967.

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