PETALING JAYA, Aug 17 — Property developers maintained a ‘neutral’ outlook for the second half of 2023 (2H 2023), but are optimistic for the first half of 2024 (1H 2024), said Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda) president Datuk NK Tong.
As the Covid-19 pandemic is behind and the elections are now over, it allows them to be more positive about the coming year.
“Now what we can see is that the pandemic is behind us. So the fact that it allows us to be a bit more optimistic. The elections are over, both Federal and state. There are no surprises, I think there is less destruction.
“Everyone is now focused on moving forward and hopefully, the states, whichever side the government ended on, are all focused on the growth of their state. And I think all that works well for the rakyat, the industry, and the general economy,” he said.
Tong was speaking at the media briefing on Rehda Property Industry Survey for 1H 2023 and Market Outlook for 2H 2023 and 1H 2024, earlier today.
The survey saw the participation of 148 member developers. A total of 14,392 residential units were launched between January to June 2023, recording about a 50 per cent increase compared to the previous period under review (9,426 units; 28 per cent).
Meanwhile, he said residential sales performance increased in 1H 2023, totalling 11,273 units (1H 2022: 3,163 units), out of which, 35 per cent of these were new launches.
On the future launches and outlook for 2H 2023 and 1H 2024, Tong said about half of respondents planned to launch their projects in the second half of 2023 (53 per cent), with 3/4 of them anticipating their sales performance to be 50 per cent and below.
Most of these planned launches are priced between RM150,001 – RM300,000, particularly in the states of Kedah/Perlis, Melaka, Pahang, Penang and Perak, he added.
Survey respondents maintain a neutral view of the business/economic and property industry outlook for the coming year, with increased optimism for 1H 2024.
— Bernama
