Juwai IQI says this year will see the residential market grow stronger and transaction volume rise by up to three per cent.
The co-founder and group chief executive officer of the company, Kashif Ansari, thinks developers with appealing new ideas will successfully introduce them to the market as both domestic and foreign consumers return to the show suites.
Additionally, he said that the revised national Budget 2023 will aid first-time homeowners and promote the construction of affordable homes.
"The government has proposed the country's largest budget ever and we think it is good for Malaysia. It attempts to walk a fine line between budgetary conservatism and abundant fiscal stimulation of growth after the pandemic," he said.
According to Kashif, the allocation of RM5 billion to assist the gig economy employees in obtaining mortgages is a crucial step.
Without this assistance, he said, the rising numbers of gig workers would be barred from the housing market, preventing people from accessing the most secure and time-tested method of accumulating wealth and security—home ownership.
"There are more than four million gig workers in Malaysia, and these individuals usually have no fixed income. That makes it hard for them to obtain a traditional mortgage from a bank to buy a home. The housing credit guarantee for gig workers will help as many as 20,000 Malaysians buy their own home and take a giant leap forward in creating financial security for their families," he said.
Meanwhile, the full stamp tax exemption for properties up to RM500,000 till the end of 2025, according to Kashif, is crucial because the existing stamp duty reduces buyers' purchasing power and deters individuals from downsizing or upgrading.
According to the revised budget, the stamp duty exemption rate for homes up to RM1 million will be increased by half to 75 per cent.
Kashif said the existing stamp duty inhibits younger people from purchasing larger homes to accommodate their growing families while trapping elderly couples in homes that are too big for them.
"We believe that there should be as little friction as possible when it comes to buying or selling your home. It's a stressful transaction and one of the largest most people will ever make in their lives. Exempting buyers from stamp duty eliminates one of the difficulties," he said.
The revised Budget also includes several initiatives that, combined, will spend more than RM2.2 billion on improving the quality of existing housing stock in the country – either through renovation and repairs or through new construction. The various initiatives include refurbishing houses in rural areas, fixing lifts in low-cost strata homes, and building and refurbishing housing for members of the armed forces.
There are also new funds for the People's Housing Program (PPR), the Rumah Mesra Rakyat Program, and Malaysian Public Housing Projects.
These budgetary measures alone would result in the construction of more than 35,000 new houses for lower-income Malaysians, and 7,000 for the armed forces.
"We believe the budgetary measures will bring some stability to the market, but not significantly change the pre-existing trends. We see both prices and unsold stock improving through the remainder of the year," he said.
