Overseas investors typically eye Malaysian condominium projects priced between USD100,000 to USD500,000
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 8 January 2008 – The iProperty.com Group, Asia’s leading network of property portals and owner of Malaysia’s No. 1 property and real estate website, today unveiled Part 1 of the results of its online Asia Property Trends Survey 2007. The Survey interviewed 2,066 local and overseas property buyers looking for investment opportunities in Asia.
The results will be released in two parts in Malaysia: Part 1, released today, reveals findings on foreign investors of Malaysian property and Part 2, which will be released later this month, will focus on the investment behaviour of local buyers.
One of the most prominent findings was that Malaysia, alongside Singapore and Thailand, features amongst investors’ top choices for property investments.
55% of foreign respondents indicated that they were hunting for high-end or luxury properties in the USD100,000 to USD500,000 price range. In fact, 15% said that they were keen to invest in property ranging from USD500,000 to USD1 million. A clear indication that they were serious and experienced investors was the fact that 34% had bought at least one property over the past 24 months, with 23% having purchased two or more properties in the same period.
95% of those surveyed said that they intend to purchase property within the next 12 months, which strongly points to the fact that they are on an active hunt for investment opportunities. The foreign respondents strongly favour high-rise dwellings, with 55% and 39% voting for completed and newly-launched condominium units respectively.
The typical overseas property investor is a professional or senior executive (49%), with an annual household income of well over USD40,000 (58%).
Commenting on the findings of the iProperty.com survey, Patrick Grove, Executive Chairman of the iProperty.com Group said, “The iProperty.com survey results have confirmed the fact that there is a lot of foreign interest in Malaysian property. These foreign buyers have big budgets and are actively looking for high-end property investment opportunities here. This is quite a pleasant surprise actually, and it definitely augurs well for Malaysia’s property market as well as the `Malaysia My Second Home’ (MM2H) Programme, launched by the Government to attract skilled, affluent foreign property investors to Malaysian shores.”
The Survey also found `location’ to be the single most important factor property investors consider, at 2.5 times more important than the second most critical factor, price. How `friendly’ a country’s policies are to foreigners ranked third amongst the checklist of factors. Perhaps most surprising of all is the finding that as many as 37% of those interviewed said that they would be willing to consider purchasing a property, without actually viewing it first.
The Internet is their primary property search tool
67% of foreign property investors said that the Internet is the first tool they turn to when initiating their hunt for viable properties in their country of choice. When asked what they relied on most for updates on properties available for sale, 64% indicated the Internet.
The Internet featured prominently as the tool of choice, with 95% of overseas investors using it to hunt for properties available for sale, 56% to research on market trends, 50% to update themselves on the latest property news, 33% to research on developers, and 23% to look for real estate agents.
Grove added, “We are pleased to learn that an overwhelming proportion of foreign investors use the Internet as their primary property search tool due to the rich and up-to-date content, accessibility, convenience and speed it offers. iProperty.com is committed to further enhancing our websites’ content and product offerings to serve them even better.”
Note to the editor:
For more information on the statistics of the iProperty.com Asia Property Trends Survey, please refer to the attached APPENDIX.
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About iProperty.com Malaysia
iProperty.com Malaysia is the country’s No.1 property and real estate website (confirmed by Comscore, Frost & Sullivan and Alexa.com). It attracts over 400,000 visitors and has more than 23,000 quality property listings, every month. The website offers the largest online database of properties for sale and rent and continues to consolidate its market-leading position by consistently achieving growth across all key metrics.
About iProperty.com (www.iproperty.com)
iProperty.com is Asia’s leading network of property portals, with over 750,000 unique users every month (confirmed by Comscore, Frost & Sullivan and Alexa.com). The Group operates consumer and business online property portals in the Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Philippines markets, with a Heads of Agreement in place to acquire an online property portal in Thailand.
iProperty.com has an average of over 100,000 property listings available on its network daily, and is utilised by more than 4,000 real estate agents and 100 developers. With further expansion planned, iProperty.com is continuously working to capitalise on its market-leading positions and the rapidly growing online property advertising market throughout the region. iProperty.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australian Stock Exchange-listed IPGA Limited, www.ipgalimited.com (ASX: IPP).
iProperty.com Network of Websites:
Singapore: iProperty.com Singapore
Malaysia: iProperty.com Malaysia and iLuxury.com.my
Hong Kong: GoHome.com.hk and House18.com
Philippines: iProperty.com Philippines
For media queries, please contact:
Chris Cheung
iProperty.com
DID: +60322970867
Mobile: +6016-6031271
Email: chris@iproperty.com
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APPENDIX
The iProperty.com Asia Property Trends Survey: Findings
About the Survey:
The iProperty.com Asia Property Trends Survey aims to reveal trends among Asia property buyers:– the key motivations for purchasing property, the types of property they are interested in, the countries they are keen on, their budget, how they go about conducting their property search and property research methodology. The survey was conducted online from 15 November to 31 December 2007. The results were yielded from the 2,066 respondents. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from iProperty.com.
Key Findings:
Overseas buyer profile: Highly-educated, highly-paid professionals and senior executives
- 58% have annual household incomes of over USD40,000
- 84% have a diploma or higher level of education
- 49% are professionals or senior executives
A) Foreign Property Investor Behaviour
Strong interest in Malaysian property
- Malaysia was one of the top choices for foreigners, together with Singapore and Thailand
Overseas buyers have big budgets and are looking for high-end properties
- 55% of foreign respondents are looking for properties in the USD100,000 to USD500,000 price range
- 15% want to invest in properties ranging from USD510,000 to USD1 million - clearly demonstrating their huge spending power
Foreign buyers are in the market, actively looking for property investment opportunities
- 95% of foreign buyers said that they intend to purchase property within the next 12 months. This shows that foreign buyers are on a keen lookout for investment opportunities
Foreign buyers are experienced property investors
- 34% of overseas buyers revealed that they bought at least one property in the last 24 months
- In fact, 23% said that they have purchased two or more properties in the same period
Newly launched or completed condominium projects are their most preferred property type
- 55% revealed that they are looking to invest in completed condominium projects
- 39% said they are interested in newly launched condominium projects
Location is by far the most important factor
- When making a property investment decision, location was indicated as the most important factor; 2.5 times more crucial than price, which was the second most important factor. The third most important factor influencing their property selection process was a country’s foreigner-friendly policies. The same factors applied to both new and resale properties.
Top reasons for investing in property:
- 48% capital appreciation
- 41% retirement planning
- 40% rental income
- 39% safe and solid investment
A significant percentage may consider buying without viewing property
- A surprising 37% indicated that they may purchase a property with prior physical inspection
B) How Overseas Property Investors Conduct their Property Search
The Internet is their top and primary medium for property hunting
- An overwhelming 67% of foreign investors said that the Internet is the first tool they use when starting their property hunt; compared to 16% for local real estate agents and 13% for local newspaper classifieds
Foreign investors rely on the Internet to get latest data on properties available for sale
- When asked what they relied on most for updates on properties available for sale, 64% indicated the Internet, followed by 20% and 14% for local agents and local newspaper classifieds respectively
They use the Internet extensively for several different purposes
- 95% look for properties on sale
- 56% research property market trends
- 50% read property news
- 33% research developers
- 23% look for real estate agents
Reasons why the Internet is their medium of choice:
- It is available 24x7 (70%)
- It is fast and saves time (68%)
- It is easy – for convenience and comfort (68%)
- They can view properties through pictures (57%)
- They are located in a different country (40%)
- It is a better way to be updated on latest properties for sale (37%)
- No access to local newspaper classifieds (23%)
--End of Appendix--
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