KUALA LUMPUR, 12 SEPTEMBER 2013 – With Budget 2014 expected to introduce significant new policies with regards to the real estate sector, several property developers shared their views on the situation at the first ever PropertyGuru Developers’ Forum, held on September 12, 2013 at Eastin Hotel, Petaling Jaya.
The closed door forum saw the participation of Malaysian Property Incorporated (MPI) as well as prominent developers such as HCK Capital Group, Binastra, Austin Heights, IJM Corporation Berhad and real estate agency, Metro World.
The forum was organised and moderated by leading online property portal, PropertyGuru.com.my.
Gerard Kho, Country Manager of PropertyGuru Malaysia mentioned that the Forum served two objectives: to enable property developers to present their views for further consideration by the government and to continue providing timely and relevant information to empower people in making better informed property investment decisions.
“The Forum provides a platform for dialogue and the expression of diverse viewpoints on the real estate sector as well as national matters. With current global and local economic developments, the forum helps shed light not just on the views of property developers, but the general scenario of the real estate industry and economy going forward into 2014. This will be helpful for many be it first time homeowner or investor,” said Kho.
Among the key issues highlighted were directly related to the property sector such as the introduction of higher Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT), affordable housing and rising property prices, as well as economic and national concerns such as Goods & Services Tax (GST), rising construction costs, the national debt, crime prevention and more.
While PropertyGuru constantly engages consumers through their consumer sentiment surveys, the forum is the first time it is actively engaging property developers.
When asked on PropertyGuru’s aspirations for Budget 2014, Kho hoped for far-sighted fiscal policies towards building a robust real estate sector with healthy growth.
“In essence, PropertyGuru hopes Budget 2014 would see policies that instil further confidence in the property market with the aim of long-term sustainability with healthy growth. It should not be a reactive budget based on current regional developments. Rather, it should be proactive and far-sighted towards creating consistency in policies, increasing investor confidence, both local and foreign while creating a robust market that offers long term investment prospects with low levels of risks,” he added.
Kho elaborated further that he hoped Budget 2014 will also include specific policies to encourage growth in the key economic centres of Klang Valley, Johor Bahru, Penang and East Malaysia.
“Another important area is further incentives to assist new purchasers. It could be stamp duty exemptions or “bonus” incentives for first time buyers, even financing schemes that encourage financial prudence among buyers to be financially prudent could be helpful. Another idea is tax exemptions on rental income for the first three years to promote buyers to keep the properties longer,” added Kho.
Kho mentioned that the forum is the first of a series to be held by PropertyGuru with subsequent events to take place in the near future. The goal is to facilitate greater information, opinion sharing and education on issues that matter to Malaysians.
Malaysia Property Market Outlook Remains Positive
On a separate note, Steve Melhuish, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of PropertyGuru Group, revealed that the outlook for Malaysian remains positive based on the recent concluded PropertyGuru Q3 2013 Sentiment Survey results.
“More Malaysians are expressing a desire to own a residential property. We’re looking at a high residential ownership with over 70% of Malaysians owning at least one residential property,. with a further “66% 66% are intendingt to buy one property type, preferably condomiums, apartments or terrace houses, for residence or investment either residential or commercial within the next six months.” Condomiums, apartments and terrace houses are top choices”.
In terms of post election sentiments, 66% also expected the government to increase the supply of more affordable housing. 3 out of 5 are confident that the Buloh-Kajang MRT project will be continued.
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About PropertyGuru Malaysia
Propertyguru.com.my is the fastest growing property portal in the country with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor. The Malaysian portal currently has over 1.5 million visitors viewing almost 12 million property pages monthly.
PropertyGuru Malaysia reported a 2.5 times growth in revenue in 2012, attributed to a large growth in agent members, real estate developers and bank clients as well as a rise of 132% in website visitors to reach more than 11 million in comparison to the same period at the end of the previous year.
2012 also saw PropertyGuru taking the lead in the mobile space in Malaysia with the triple launches of PropertyGuru Malaysia’s consumer mobile app on Android and iPhone platforms as well as the Agent app on Android. The mobile apps have proved to be highly popular since launching in Q3 2012, with both consumers app receiving more than 220,00077,700 downloads within three short months alone, with over 20% of all PropertyGuru users are now using mobile phone or tablet to visit the website in Malaysia.
About PropertyGuru Group
PropertyGuru Group is Asia’s leading online property portal group used by almost 11 million property buyers, viewing over 89 million property pages and generating over 350,000 enquiries for real estate developer and agent advertisers – every month.
Headquartered in Singapore, PropertyGuru was founded in 2006 by 2 entrepreneurs with a vision to simplify the property search process and help buyers, sellers and investors make better property decisions faster. Taking advantage of Asia’s growing affluence, property demand and online explosion, it received its first VC investment funding in 2008 and most recently secured approximately $60m investment in 2012 from Deutsche Telekom, South East Asia’s largest digital investment to date. Since its launch, PropertyGuru has reported rapid growth and most recently announced a record 96% increase in revenue, 60% increase in internet users and 50% increase in paying agent advertisers to over 24,000 – in 2012.
The award winning company focuses heavily on innovation. Over the last 2 years, the Company has developed and launched 15 mobile applications in 4 countries and 3 languages which have received over a million downloads – almost 50 per cent of its users in Singapore now originate from a mobile device. PropertyGuru was also the first to integrate website with social media, first to launch Singapore’s only dedicated property newspaper with over 100,000 copies circulated island-wide every month and developing a property events platform with approximately 30 shows held annually across 4 countries addressing 30,000 potential property buyers on the ground.
For more queries or to arrange for an interview, contact:
Sally Yeow
Tel: 017 374 0056/ 012 219 5767
Email: sally@mustardtree.com.my
Jade Wong
Tel: (+6) 012-219 5289
Email: jade@mustardtee.com.my