23 May 2019, Edge Prop
Unsold units” would be more appropriate a word than “overhang” to describe the current state of unsold completed properties in the country. "Overhang means the industry is in dire straits and unable to absorb any new supply," said National Housing Department director-general Jayaselan Navaratnam. According to the definition by the National Property Information Centre (Napic), overhang is defined as residential units which have received Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC) but remained unsold for more than nine months after launch. Napic’s Property Market Status Report for 2018 showed that there is a total of 32,313 units of unsold completed residential properties valued at about RM19.8 billion in Malaysia in 2018. Speaking to EdgeProp.my on the sideline of the National Housing and Property Focus Summit 2019 today, Jayaselan said the nine-month period that is being used to define overhang is “too short”.
23 May 2019, Edge Prop
If you want to buy a home in today’s market, you must be ready to make sacrifices, said National House Buyers' Association (HBA) honorary-secretary general Datuk Chang Kim Loong. “Buying a house is not as easy as it was a decade ago. House buyers must be prepared to make sacrifices – forgo those latest gadgets in the market and expensive coffee from hipster cafes. They should also set aside 10% to 20% of the monthly pay as savings for the purchase of the house and use public transport,” he told the audience during a panel discussion at the National Housing and Property Focus Summit 2019 organised by Kingsley Strategic Institute today. He added that aspiring house buyers should ensure that they have a comfortable debt-service ratio (DSR) which banks use to gauge their loan eligibility.