KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 ― PropertyGuru Malaysia’s Sale Demand Index dropped 14.8 per cent in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2022, reflecting how potential buyers may still be facing affordability issues or a lack of confidence towards the current property prices on the market.

PropertyGuru Malaysia said its Malaysian Property Market Report (MPMR) Q1 2023 revealed that rising inflation and higher borrowing costs had tightened potential buyers’ budgets and simultaneously forced sellers to raise their prices to cover the higher cost of property investments.

The report showed an uptrend in PropertyGuru Malaysia’s Sale Price Index by 1.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) following the increased Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) to 2.75 per cent last year, contributing towards the higher overall cost of property ownership.

PropertyGuru country manager, Malaysia, Sheldon Fernandez, said although the property market’s activities were seen as healthy throughout 2022, the report’s findings suggested that Malaysians are now more careful when making big purchasing decisions.

"This has created a phenomenon where the price gap between both parties has widened, further contributing to the housing affordability issue we’ve been tracking throughout the past year,” he said.

For the whole of 2022, the asking prices listed on PropertyGuru.com.my went up by 5.0 per cent.

Fernandez said this upward trend is expected to continue as existing homeowners increase housing prices to counter the higher overall cost of homeownership caused by the higher interest rate.

He said the report also found that following rising property prices, potential homebuyers gravitated towards the rental market, seeing that the Rental Demand Index increased 32.9 per cent in 2022.

The supply of rental listings on PropertyGuru’s website increased by 19.6 per cent, as landlords were jumping back into a rental market with positive demand, seeking alternative income sources to offset inflation.

Meanwhile, Fernandez said as the Malaysian economy is expected to expand by 4.0 to 5.0 per cent in 2023, the property market is likely to remain active with positive growth.

"However, property players should still place consideration of the current housing affordability issue and expect sales demand to slow down in the first half of the year.

"At the same time, many Malaysians are waiting patiently for government assistance in the upcoming re-tabling of Budget 2023 and an improvement in inflation before making their big purchase,” he added. ― Bernama