PETALING JAYA: The year 2024 could be a good one for Malaysia’s real estate market, with a new report predicting strong growth in prices and rents.
According to IQI Property Survey and Index – Malaysia Q4 2023 by IQI, a real estate agency network and a member of Juwai IQI, the new research revealed strong market sentiment.
Juwai IQI co-founder and group CEO Kashif Ansari said that the buy–rent ratio reveals strong confidence in the real estate market, with 91.1% saying they would advise a friend to buy today, while only 8.9% advise renting. The numbers are nearly as lopsided in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor as they are country-wide, with 88.8% for buying versus 11.2% for renting.
“Agents may recommend buying because they expect significant increases in both sales prices and rents in 2024. This optimism might be based on expected economic trends, investment inflows, infrastructure improvements, and demand and supply dynamics,” he said in a statement.
Most of the increase in transaction volume will be for moderately and affordably priced property. 51% of purchases are valued between RM100,000 and RM500,000, according to data from the National Property Information Centre.
IQI forecast real estate industry residential prices to rise 9.95% and rents 9.57% in 2024.
“The forecast is for a 9.95% increase in residential prices and a 9.57% increase in rents during the next 12 months. Specifically in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, the industry expects prices to climb by 9.7% and rents by 9.9%,” he said.
He added that responses are overwhelmingly positive across all locations with only 5% of the country-wide research panel expect prices to fall and only 3% expect rents to drop.
“The widespread expectation that prices and rents will climb signals the potential for capital appreciation and rental yield growth. That could encourage investors and renters to return to the market and lead to developers launching new projects.
“So, we expect to see more demand in 2024, driven by Malaysia’s demographic trends, urbanisation, economic growth, and changes in housing affordability,” he said.
When it comes to the economic outlook, the research reveals a mixed but generally positive outlook.
“Agents in our research panel are keeping a wary eye on broader economic factors and global disruptions that have the potential to undermine Malaysia trade growth,” he said.
Over half (56%) of respondents expect a more robust economy over the next 12 months, while only one-third (33.5%) expect the economy to weaken. The most common view is that the economy will be “Somewhat stronger” (35%), followed by “Somewhat weaker” (25%).
