Malaysian Property Market-What Can Happen in 2014 and Thereafter

Millions of ringgits abodes

This article by Cheryl Poo in the Online The Star 25 Feb 2014 makes interesting reading.

I have edited it.

"Siva Shanker,the president of the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents opines that the current glut of resal estate in the country will clear over time.

His reasoning?

The local economy is healthy and not in a tailspin. That means that the property market will be able to withstand the pressures of speculation and the curbs imposed by Budget 2014.

An artist impression of big bucks residences

For example, he said the Mont Kiara (excluding the surrounding Segambut areas) has in the last 20 years built an estimated 20,000 units. Iskandar Malaysia, on the other hand, has built some 40,000 units in the last three years. All this has created a lot of pressure on supply and apparently the market has already adjusted by staying away.

Meanwhile, on short term, this oversupply will continue to run its natural course. Expect many units placed in the market would not sell easily for now. However, he expects that by the second half of 2014, after a period of consolidation, buyers will emerge as they come to terms with the realities of the market.

2015 will possibly see an uptick in the property sector with the upturn going into 2016.

Siva believes that in the medium term, much of the oversupply will naturally sort itself out, adding that the
country’s relatively low exposure to the “international economic ups and downs” compared with Singapore will be an advantage to Malaysia.

“There’s also the trickle down effect from large infrastructure projects as more industries benefit from them,” he said.

Siva reported that apparently buyers were not keen on the secondary market, although it made up 80% to 85% of the local property market transactions in the last three years. He believes as high-rise property prices surges, buyers would be forced to look elsewhere for more affordable landed property – and they will find this in the secondary market.

Siva forecast that property prices around the KLCC area will reach RM 5,000 per sq ft within the next three to five years.

“As it is, Four Seasons Place in Ampang is going at RM3,500 per sq ft.

A very clear third strata will form now, which are properties that were completed in the last two years but flipped into the market. Those properties will face the most selling and renting pressure because they were purchased for sale on the day of completion.”

So, for those who intend to buy, know your budget and what you are looking for from now on. For sellers, best to wait out this current year before thinking of selling.

Remmeber the government's RPGT will bite quite deeply this time around.

Is A Phone Call worth Losing Your Head?

I wonder whether it is true; but I guess no one would like to be caught in such an embarrassing situation in public with the possibility of just maybe losing one's head.

As the story goes-

On the Line, On the Stairs

There is this woman in Singapore alighting from a bus but still busy talking on her hand phone.

Before she knew it, the doors of the bus closed on her, right on her neck.

In a Head Grip

She was trapped and it's only with the shouting in the bus from passengers that finally alerted the bus driver to release the poor victim from the door hold.

Agony and Embarassment

Deadly shocking, don't you think?

MOSTE's 3rd Dinner (21 Feb 2014)

Sweet Wine of Life

Expect some dropping out at the last minute.

First, it was Jini who went down with a sore-throat and a possible flu. Unfortunately, he could not recover in time for dinner after his trip to Natuna.

Then, it was GL Ooi who went down with flu on the day of this dinner.

The others who could not make it were Dato' Ti, Dato' Chang; and Lawrence Sii who got saddled with some last minute domestic obligations.

The dinner went on well and despite having met two times earlier, the warmth of friendship continued to blaze ever strongly.

The bottles of drinks brought by generous souls enliven further the camaraderie among friends who have not seen each other for such as long time. We have Lee Choon Ming, Lily Hor, Jenny Tan and Low Chun Choi for the first time with us.

Though the food needs improvement, we have a great time on the karaoke machine with Dato' Leong, Choon Ming and myself. We should not be economical with the machine the next time as it is paid for in our package.

The dinner ended past 11 pm with even a suggestion from Frederick  that the next dinner be held in Sibu, Sarawak. Food for thought.

A great bonding time until the next dinner meet in 3 month's time.

Those who attended included:

Dato' Leong
Dato' Cheah
Dato' Yap
Frederick Wong
Tan Meng Leng
Goh Siok Eng
Lily Hor
Jenny Tan
Patrick Tan
Wong Choon Ming
Chee Kin San
Prof. Thiru
Lee Heng Keng
Daniel Chew
Kam Teik Beng
Robert Foong
Teo Boon Khee
Low Choon Choi
Heng

Two Koreas and Thailand-Different Strokes

Yes, these two photographs paints a diametrical different picture of political systems. The first picutre is that fo a tearful reunion as the two Koreas allowed a special occasion for long lost family members from either side to meet briefly after the country went to two different ways.

in the photo below, South Korean Park Yang-gon (right) hugs his North Korean brother who was abducted by North korea buring the 1950 Korea War. This crying reunion was held at Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea. Some 100 South Koreans crossed the world's most heavily fortified border for the occasion. (February 21st, 2014)

How precious art thou!

The second shows Farmer power as tractors moved down the thoroughfare in Bangkok against  PM Yingluck Sinawatra 

Battle Formation of  a Convoy of Tractors

In battle formation, tractors and other agricultural vehicles clogged the road in Ang Thong province heading towards Bangkok's Suvanabhumi Airport.                

What a contrast!

Verging on to Bankruptcy

Apathy and Punishment

This article in today's (21 Feb 2014) edition of the online Malay Mail is truly disturbing.

Just like in the earlier article I posted on galloping bankruptcy cases in Malaysia, this article adds further information that shows us that the problem could get worse in 2014.

I have edited the article.

" Dave, a legal adviser aged 27 recounts that poor judgment and financial mismanagement is part of the reason he is heavily in debt.  Roughly half his monthly take-home pay goes towards repaying a RM 48,000 study loan, a RM 70,000 car loan and RM 5,000 in credit card debt.

Faced with higher prices for everything from petrol through electricity as the government drastically quickens the roll-back of major subsidies, many Malaysians debtors are not expecting things to get any better. 

It's  bite the bullet time for many living just on the verge of more impending debt.

Low interest rates and cheap credit has fueled a spending boom that has helped the Malaysian economy grow but the fall-out is that it has also left many Malaysians struggling with large monthly debt repayments.

Bank Negara (BNM) data shows that household borrowing is shockingly above 80 per cent of the country’s total economic production or Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

It also shows that the number of individual bankruptcies have been rising steadily every year.

In 2013, personal bankruptcies reached 21,984; that’s roughly 60 cases each day.

Even before the government started cutting subsidies because incomes are not increasing, households were already using up a large portion of their incomes to repay loans for things such as houses and even weddings.

The time has come. Back against the wall, many households just cannot afford to cut back further on their basic needs. Many will likely sink into greater debt just to fund basic needs such as food, healthcare and education for their children.

Standard & Poor’s recent report said that Malaysia’s households could land in a tight spot because they have borrowed heavily even though their incomes are modest.

'People earning RM 3000 or less each month have taken on debt that outweighs their incomes,' it said.

"These borrowers constitute about 16 per cent of the banking system’s loans and are particularly vulnerable to inflation,” it added.

The official rate of inflation in Malaysia reached 3.2 per cent in December, the highest in over two years.

Some economists predict that inflation could reach 4.0 per cent later this year as the effects of higher fuel and electricity trickle through the economy.

As the inflation rate rises BNM will be under pressure to elevate interest rates which in turn  could  push up borrowers’ monthly debt repayments even further.

“Borrowers who have difficulty keeping up with their loan instalment payments are encouraged to approach their credit providers or AKPK to restructure or reschedule their loans so that they can continue to service them,” said Koid Swee Lian, the CEO of the government’s debt counselling agency AKPK.

“Ignoring mounting debts and ‘running’ away from lenders would not solve debt problems but would lead to bankruptcy eventually,” she added.

The number of people applying for AKPK’s free debt management programme rose to 16,769 in 2013 from 16,110 the previous year. More may just come by very soon to obtain counsel.

According to AKPK, the top reasons for going into heavy debt are poor financial planning at 22.8 per cent, high medical expenses at 18.1 per cent, failure or slowdown in businesses and credit card debts at 15.3 per cent and 11.1 per cent respectively.

An overwhelming 82.9 per cent who needed the debt agency’s help had a combination of credit card debts, housing and car loans.

So it looks like the new year is not happy nor prosperous for many after all.

Dysfunctional is the Key word for the Family Now

Inter-generational Clash of Values

Sometimes, in reflection, I believe most families do want to appear ideal.

At best, they hope that the lack of intra-family complaints, friction and quarrels  is representative of a fairly good functioning family.

Families that are strictly control by conventionality, conservatism and religion tend to be more conforming, subservient and tolerant of parenthood.

However, today  conventions is dying for most families. The authoritarian paternal and maternal figures are given nominal respect as religion continues to take a back seat due to knowledge explosion, science and technology and instantaneous  global communications.

Western culture-movies and songs-and the exported mores they bring along are slowly becoming part of the Y Generation as the concept of the strict father and mother figures disappear.

Dysfunctionality can also be the result of the clash of values within the family. When parents cannot share common values, the children will drift away buoyed by exported values or peer influence such as those now hooked to K-Pop or to Korean TV series.

So, dysfunctionality is change; a directional change. It may just become a trend-one that is antithetical to so-called good Asian family values that we have known for generations past.

I guess the modern society will become more and more  individualistic as families become dysfunctional.

Malaysia, like most Asian countries will go that way too!

Zoned Out with Walter Mitty

The Biting Himalayas

I guess this is one enjoyable remake especially with the state of the art special effects and computer graphics.

The Seas off Greenland and a Shark Fight

Walter Mitty, a negative manager at Life-Time Corporation contributed to the life-line of Life Magazine. A daydreamer, his final mission was to look for famed photographer Sean's negative No.25  which will be the cover of the final printed copy of Life Magazine before it goes fully digital. This was to take him to true exciting adventures from Greenland,Iceland to Afghanistan.

The Imagination of Walter Mitty

He had to jump off from a helicopter flown by a drunk pilot in the rough icy seas off Greenland to fighting off a man-eating shark; work on a ship en route to Iceland  and  to escaping  a volcano in Iceland and then, subsequently to Afghanistan to meet with the Taliban warlords and to search for the elusive and ghostly snow leopard.

The Protagonists, Walter and Cheryl

Wonderful portrayal by Ben Stiller,Kristen Wiig and Sean Penn.

The soundtrack and the songs (especially Pina colada) was simply superb.

Sean Penn as the intrepid photographer

Enjoyed this movie. I believe I zoned out to just like Walter.