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Rising housing demand, despite uncertain global outlook

Despite global outlook uncertainties, Malaysia and neighbouring Thailand and Indonesia are showing increasing housing demand, PropertyGuru Group's real estate intelligence said.

Head of intelligence Dr Lee Nai Jia said in a statement that in the second quarter of this year, residential markets in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam logged an increase in prices, even though sales in Singapore and Vietnam were slowing.

Sharing his findings in a report "Southeast Asia: Macro Economic Trends and Impact on the Residential Market (Oct 2022)" developed by PropertyGuru For Business, Lee revealed that it is not all doom and gloom for the Southeast Asian residential property market.

"The silver lining lies in the fundamentals of Southeast Asian economies, even though two key ASEAN trade partners - China and the United States - had exhibited indications of decline in second quarter (Q2) of 2022, with US gross domestic product (GDP) having decreased at an annual rate of 0.6 per cent in Q2 of 2022, extending the 1.6 per cent decrease in Q1," the statement said.

Lee pointed out that the return of confidence following post-COVID-19 lockdowns and the easing of restrictive measures brought about some relief, coupled with strong labour markets that support a robust housing market. The steady flow of foreign direct investments into Southeast Asia also served as a buffer against market vagaries caused by the pandemic and war.

"There has been a general rebound in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam following the reopening of borders and more relaxed measures associated with curbing COVID-19.

"The factors supporting the growth of the Malaysian market are there, Malaysia and Vietnam both recorded the highest GDP increase, at about 8.9 per cent and 7.7 per cent y-o-y, respectively in Q2 of 2022," said Lee. As economies returned to pre-pandemic levels, labour markets tightened across all five economies in Q2, he said.

This led to better financial positions that in turn facilitated the maintenance of mortgage payments and raising asking prices.

He said going forward, and barring any more major shocks to the economy, economic growth for Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand is expected to moderate in the first half of 2023, while Vietnam is forecast to experience economic expansion.

"We project that the residential markets in Malaysia and Indonesia will transit to the quadrant where prices appreciate, but sales volume decrease in the first half of 2023," he said. - Bernama

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