PROPERTY developers are optimistic demand for their products will pick up in the second half of 2021, said Soam Heng Choon, president of the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda).

According to Soam, the survey of 134 players on their market outlook for 1H 2021 and 2H 2021, as well as the industry performance in 2H 2021, returned optimistic feedback for the latter.

“Respondents are mostly pessimistic of the market in 1H 2021 but more optimistic in the following six months,” he told a media conference today.

He presented the breakdown of three categories in Malaysia’s overall economic outlook and all results consistently saw a surge in optimism. 

“Some 51% respondents were pessimistic on the domestic economic environment in 1H 2021, but this figure shot down to 22% in 2H 2021, maybe they think that vaccination will help.

“Then, 41% were pessimistic about their own businesses in 1H 2021, but only 19% were so for 2H 2021.

“Meanwhile, 46% are not hopeful about consumer spending sentiment in 1H 2021, this drops to 37% in the second half, the developers believe that things will recover.”

The positive sentiment in the overall economic outlook is reflected in the property sector, Soam said. 

The survey showed optimism in the overall property sales performance rose from 8% in 1H 2021 to 20% in 2H 2021, and specifically on residential sector growth, the optimism rose from 8% to 26%. 

Generally, 55% of respondents are neutral towards the Budget 2021 announcement in accelerating the property market recovery, Soam said.

Respondents said their top three hopes are reduction in compliance costs, continuing the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) and for financial institutions to be more accommodative in assessing loan approvals.

He said that Kedah, Perlis, Negri Sembilan, Pahang and Selangor planned to launch residential units within the RM250,001-RM500,000 price range, whereas Johor, Penang and Kuala Lumpur aimed to offer units in the RM500,001-RM700,000 range. – March 30, 2021.