any agents share how business is doing? things slowing down? i'm particularly interested around KL and PJ.

Hi Andrew,

My business was slow since June 08 till Sep 08, but in Oct 08 my negotiators started in a busy life and closed many deals particularly in the KL city. May be due to the astute investors entering into the market by taking advantage of dropped price. We have sold 3 units of K Residence and 2 units of One Residency. Surprisingly, most of the buyers are from local.

We still have many prospects looking for condos in the city area.

My friend as a negotiator based in JB has done more than RM60k commission since July 08. 80% of his deals are rental of apartments.

I have investments in Damansara Heights and Bangsar - all bungalows and semi-d's. It seems to be business as usual here.

During the Asian crisis Damansara Heights and Bangsar bungalows barely saw falls, so I expect that the market will remain very resilient.

Hi Asim,

U have made right decision to invest in these 2 areas.

In fact, i'm planning to invest in these areas as well.

What is so good about Bangsar and Damansara Heights? I know Bangsar is favoured by expats, but is there anything else to these two areas?

Location in terms of convenience - there are many access roads in and out and they are both close to many major highways (Jln Damansara, Federal Highway, NPE, NKVE, Sprint, Jln Duta) - makes it quick & easy to get to the city center as well as PJ. Other factors: mature neighbourhood with affluent residents (so the feel is generally more upmarket), lower dense since they are predominantly landed props (except for the jln kapas area in bangsar which is like condo central), hilly with certain parts getting nice views of KLCC, lots of green, shopping that is catered to expats, close enough to the international schools in MK while getting to enjoy the big backyard and garden / pool for the kids to run around & play in...

C Soong, I agree with you completely but I feel you missed a major point. Mont Kiara also has great access, affluent residents, nice views, international schools, etc... The one fact that Damansara Heights and Bangsar have that outweighs all others is that there is an acute shortage of supply, and new supply (in terms of new construction) is almost non-existent. There is very little supply, and unless the world changes very drastically, there will be very little supply for decades to come. There just isn't enough space - these areas have less empty land than the KLCC.

In the good times the lack of supply it means stronger capital appreciation, in the bad times it means incredible resilience (as the few buyers out there just stop selling as they would rather wait).

Dear Asim,

Since you are an expert in the DH area, what do think about 10 semantan? Is it a good buy?

I prefer to buy PJ8 than 10 Semantan.

May I know why, Wayne?

Don't know about PJ8. But as far as 10Semantan goes, I feel it's over priced. Design and location are less than appealing - access is cumbersome, and being right on Jln Semantan means you have traffic congestion to contend with as well as the noise and pollution, the things that most ppl wanting to live in DH want to avoid.

Dear Friends,

These are my thoughts on the current property market:

1. KLCC and surrounds - downward pressure felt on poor products and developers that do not have a strong marketing strategy. Prices at Good developments, products and developers are still holding on with prices at least 20-25% higher than launch price and rentals yielding slightly higher than 8% based on launch price. Still a buy albeit selected products

2. Landed Properties in the "Usual Suspects" of Bangsar, Damansara Heights, PJ, TTDI, Hartamas. I anticipate upward movement in the first two quarters of 2009 with easing of inflationary pressures in the market making buyers having more disposable income and also due to scarcity setting in these locations. PJ might have a slower movement due to the fact that is off bigger size and more choices (Sect 5, Sect 12, Sect 11 etc) but the rest should see strong resilience as well.

3. Landed Properties in the "Under Dogs" location of Taman Desa,Seputeh, Gita Bayu etc. Very stable

4. Condos in Mt Kiara, Sentul, Damansara Heights and Bangsar - only good products by better developers will hold. We do see some downward pressure on some of the condos, but generally the better products at Mt Kiara and Bangsar will hold. In fact we have seen Sentul West and East having strong pick up in terms of prices recently

With construction cost stabilising now, we do see a flurry of launches just after CNY adding more spice to the market. And I would like to quote Merril Lynch "“While we acknowledge Malaysia is likely to be relatively unscathed in the global financial turmoil, the equity market is experiencing a downswing on concerns over slower growth from a macro perspective and a slump in the commodity market"
and that we technically do not have a sub prime crisis nor do we have a financial crisis but what we have is a global contraction of economies that are affecting out exports, but strong regionalisation is helping in maintaining the economy

And to quote a recent marketing campaign "Dont wait to buy property, buy property and wait"

Happy Investing

Previn
CEO, Zerin Properties

Point number 4 (condos in MK Bangsar etc) - is downward pressure mainly on older condos that have not been maintained so well? Are any of the new ones facing that pressure too?

Not neccessary, goes back to product design, rentability and management. The first few by Sunrise are still in good demand