The property market is poised for a rebound next year with the overall sector expected to register growth, albeit cautiously, says PropertyGuru Malaysia country manager Sheldon Fernandez.
Fernandez said the outlook for the property market in 2021 remains neutral, given prevailing cautious sentiment following the rise in Covid-19 cases across the country.
However, he expects that the market recovery would take place in the second half of 2021.
"This is especially so with promising developments on the vaccine front happening quite quickly which will have a lasting impact on consumer sentiment," he told Bernama.
Fernandez said 2020 had been a turbulent year for Malaysia.
He said the prolonged sluggish market sentiment due to economic uncertainties had led Malaysians to rethink their future plans, including property buying strategy.
Although overall property prices were likely to move downward further in the coming months, Fernandez said the attractive prices could unlock pent-up demand for more affordably-priced houses which in turn could generate enough demand to slow the rate of declining prices.
"Despite cautious consumer behaviour dictated by pandemic fears, effective policies by the government and innovative approaches by market players have also helped to cushion the blow," he said.
The National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) showed a sharp decline in the property market's performance in the first half (H1) of 2020, in consonance with the Malaysian economic performance, which contracted by 17.1 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2020 (Q1 2020: +0.7 per cent).
In H1 2020, the property sector recorded 115,476 transactions worth RM46.94 billion, which was a 27.9 per cent decrease in volume and 31.5 per cent in value compared with H1 2019, which saw 160,165 transactions worth RM68.53 billion concluded in the market.
For Q3 2020, the volume of transactions and the yearly change recorded an improvement with 89,245 units from 83,085 units in Q3 2019, with 7.4 per cent from 5.5 per cent in the same quarter last year, respectively.
The improvement in Q3 2020 was due to the reintroduction of the Home Ownership Campaign, Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) exemption, stamp duty exemption, and the removal of the 70 per cent margin of financing limit.
The property market was also aided by a series of Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) cuts by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). BNM slashed the OPR by an unprecedented four times this year to its current record low of 1.75 per cent.