It's an understatement to say that the properties in the market are all selling at a very inflated value. It's a scary thing now. Imagine, medium income group of having RM5000.00 salary per month is hardl able to afford to buy a house now.
In Miri, a semi-detached double storey house with land size of 8 point costs above RM550k, depending on its location. The price would go up as high as RM1 Million at the center of town. That's crazy price. Income group of RM10,000.00 per month would find it tight with the properties at this inflated values.
Furthermore, bank valuation of the properties is always lower than the market value. Consequently, the downpayment that the buyer needs to come up with is substantial, as the buyer needs to pay the different of the house selling price and the home loan amount. For example, selling price of a house is RM600k, bank value is only RM550k. The buyer gets only 90% of the bank value for the home loan approved, which is RM495k. This means that the buyer has to come up with cash value of RM105k as down payment for the house he wants to buy. For a middle income group, that's a significant amount of cash money. Ask around, how many people actually has that sum of money in hand?
However, on the other hand, properties price keeps coming up. It maybe slowing down soon, but surely doesn't seem like it will come down anytime soon. Well, unless a cycle of economic crisis hit the world again?
Furthermore, general election will happen in 2013. Will that affect the price of properties? Is it a wise choice to invest in properties at this moment?
In my opinion, there are many types of properties in the market. Some are really overpriced but some are still selling at reasonable price.
Do a proper and thorough survey, study the market at that area and its surrounding, what's the future development of the area and also the neighbourhood, is it a good area to live? For invest to rent, what's the rental value and is this a popular area for rent?
Make a wise choice before investing in properties. :-D
