Gaining the Up-Market Edge in 2008, where Property Investments are concerned

Where Part 1 of iProperty.com’s Asia Property Trends Survey 2007 focussed on the preferences of foreign investors of Malaysian property, Part 2 reveals the investment behaviour of Malaysian property buyers.

The Survey shows that Malaysians are keen property purchasers, who favour landed properties, over high-rise developments. Findings also indicate that locals are more inclined towards obtaining maximum margins of financing.

Compared to most foreign buyers who have a preference for luxury condominiums, Malaysian respondents strongly favour landed properties, with 59% and 53% voting for completed and newly launched landed properties respectively. Interestingly, this corresponds with their primary attraction to property investment cited: Potential capital appreciation gains (62%). It is a widely known fact that landed properties, as compared to high-rise apartments; tend to perform better in terms of long-term capital appreciation.

The survey findings clearly indicated that Malaysians are ardent property purchasers on an active lookout for investment opportunities, with a significant 88% expressing that they have the intention of purchasing property within the next 12 months. 48% divulged they have purchased at least one property over the past 24 months, with 10% having purchased two or more.

An overwhelming 77% of respondents stated that they plan to fund their property acquisitions with loans that give them margins of financing of between 80% to 100%.

57% replied that `Location’ was the most important factor they consider in hunting for a viable property, with a 36% ranking `Price’ as the second most important factor.  In this context, both Malaysian and foreign buyers agree on the factors of `Location’ and `Price’, in identical order of importance. 

Patrick Grove, Executive Chairman of the iProperty.com Group said:

“We now have a good reason to believe that Malaysia has a property-investing culture with a lot of domestic demand. Property values have been rising consistently over the years, and will continue to do so as the country develops. We are pleased to note that many savvy Malaysians recognise the attractiveness of the local property market and are eager to take advantage of the significant potential upside.”

“It is also interesting to discover that Malaysians still prefer to invest in landed property compared to their foreign counterparts, who prefer high-rise properties” he added.

And here’s what we discovered...

The Internet is the Favourite Medium for Property Hunting

50% said that the Internet is the first medium they turn to when starting their property search. As many as 86% use it to look for properties on sale. Like their foreign counterparts, they use the internet extensively for a variety of other purposes: Research property market trends (55%), read property news (51%), research developers (49%), research financing options (32%) and search for property agents (19%).

When asked why the Internet is their preferred medium for conducting their property hunt, respondents indicated the following reasons: Speed and convenience (82%), 24x7 availability (70%), ability to view properties through photos (63%), better way to get updated on the latest properties for sale (54%) and better selection (44%). 15% revealed that it was because they were located overseas, revealing that many Malaysians living overseas are using the Internet to hunt for properties back home.

Commenting on the growing number of Malaysians conducting their property hunt online, Grove said:

“The number of Internet users in Malaysia has been growing very strongly, especially in the past few years. We are extremely pleased to note that Malaysians are becoming increasingly Internet-savvy and embracing the Internet as their top medium for property hunting. Besides speed, convenience and 24x7 availability, iProperty.com provides consumers with a greatly enhanced property hunting experience, with our powerful search function, large database of up-to-date and information-rich listings filled with photos, videos, virtual tours, map; as well as a large pool of useful resources.” 

The iProperty.com Asia Property Trends Survey aims to reveal trends among Asian property buyers; including the key motivations for purchasing property, the types of property they are interested in, the countries they are keen on, their budgets, and how they go about conducting their property search and property research methodologies.  This Survey was conducted online from 15 November to 31 December 2007, with results yielded from 2,066 respondents.

The average iProperty.com Malaysian survey respondent is highly educated (69% have a Bachelor’s degree or higher level of education), a professional or senior executive (60%) and has an annual income of at least USD20,000 / RM76,000 (53%).