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HOC hits RM14.65 bln sales as at Sept 13, surpassing target - Rehda

Last update: 26/09/2019

PETALING JAYA, Sept 26 -- The Home Ownerships Campaign ( HOC), which started in January this year, has hit RM14.65 billion in sales with 19,784 residential units sold as at Sept 13, surpassing its initial target, said the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (REHDA).

Its president, Datuk Soam Heng Choon said REHDA had initially set a sales target of RM3 billion by the first half of the year before the campaign was extended for another six months until Dec 31 this year following requests from both buyers and developers.

“This was against less optimistic opinions by certain quarters on the said target before,” he said at a media conference on the Property Industry Survey for first half of 2019 (1H19) and the market outlook for 2H19 and 1H20 here today.

Of the total, he said majority of the units sold were priced below RM1 million, with 4,967 units in the price range of between RM300,000 and RM500,000, 7,704 units (RM500,000 to RM750,000), and 3,968 units (RM750,000 to RM1 million).

As for the type of houses, most of the units sold during the campaign were serviced apartment (7,080 units), double-storey houses (5,877) and condominium units (3,132).

On concerns over foreign buyers buying houses meant for locals, he commented that the foreigners could only buy high-end properties that locals were not interested in.

Anyway, Malaysian properties are not one of the favourite destinations among foreigners, he added.

“The general sentiment among developers currently is that, since the demand of over RM1 million is slow, most developers are now more interested to build properties that match the market demand.

“It’s a misconception that developers only prioritise to build high-end properties to maximise profit. This general perception was also politically driven. No businessmen would want to create products that no consumers wanted, “ he said.

On the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, a government campaign to attract foreign buyers, he said home ownership among wealthy migrants remained relatively small.

He said the number of approvals for MM2H was only about 6,000 a year.

Soam said, however, there is a need to look at the bigger picture on the unsold properties as it means unutilised capital that could be reinvested to reinvigorate the local economy.

According to a REHDA survey, unsold properties for 1H19 rose 16.24 per cent to 5,875 units compared with 5,054 units in the 2H18.

Bank Negara Malaysia last year highlighted that overhang in the high-end market was critical especially in the Klang Valley.

-- BERNAMA