Survey uncovers the Malaysian property buyer profile and key differences with foreign counterparts
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 29 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 shared Part 2 of the Asia Property Trends Survey 2007, which reveals the investment behaviour of local property buyers. Part 1 of the results, which was released earlier this month, focussed on foreign investors of Malaysian property.
iProperty.com’s survey reveals Malaysians to be keen property purchasers, who favour landed properties, over high-rise developments. Findings also indicate that locals are more inclined towards obtaining maximum margins of financing.
Compared to most foreign buyers who have a preference for luxury condominiums, Malaysian respondents strongly favour landed properties, with 59% and 53% voting for completed and newly launched landed properties respectively. Interestingly, this corresponds with their primary attraction to property investment cited: Potential capital appreciation gains (62%). It is a widely known fact that landed properties, as compared to high-rise apartments; tend to perform better in terms of long-term capital appreciation.
The survey findings clearly indicated that Malaysians are ardent property purchasers on an active lookout for investment opportunities, with a significant 88% expressing that they have the intention of purchasing property within the next 12 months. 48% divulged they have purchased at least one property over the past 24 months, with 10% having purchased two or more.
An overwhelming 77% of respondents stated that they plan to fund their property acquisitions with loans that give them margins of financing of between 80% to 100%.
57% replied that `Location’ was the most important factor they consider in hunting for a viable property, with a 36% ranking `Price’ as the second most important factor. In this context, both Malaysian and foreign buyers agree on the factors of `Location’ and `Price’, in identical order of importance.
Patrick Grove, Executive Chairman of the iProperty.com Group said:
“We now have a good reason to believe that Malaysia has a property-investing culture with a lot of domestic demand. Property values have been rising consistently over the years, and will continue to do so as the country develops. We are pleased to note that many savvy Malaysians recognise the attractiveness of the local property market and are eager to take advantage of the significant potential upside.”
“It is also interesting to discover that Malaysians still prefer to invest in landed property compared to their foreign counterparts, who prefer high-rise properties” he added.
The Internet is the Favourite Medium for Property Hunting
50% said that the Internet is the first medium they turn to when starting their property search. As many as 86% use it to look for properties on sale. Like their foreign counterparts, they use the internet extensively for a variety of other purposes: Research property market trends (55%), read property news (51%), research developers (49%), research financing options (32%) and search for property agents (19%).
When asked why the Internet is their preferred medium for conducting their property hunt, respondents indicated the following reasons: Speed and convenience (82%), 24x7 availability (70%), ability to view properties through photos (63%), better way to get updated on the latest properties for sale (54%) and better selection (44%). 15% revealed that it was because they were located overseas, revealing that many Malaysians living overseas are using the Internet to hunt for properties back home.
Commenting on the growing number of Malaysians conducting their property hunt online, Grove said:
“The number of Internet users in Malaysia has been growing very strongly, especially in the past few years. We are extremely pleased to note that Malaysians are becoming increasingly Internet-savvy and embracing the Internet as their top medium for property hunting. Besides speed, convenience and 24x7 availability, iProperty.com provides consumers with a greatly enhanced property hunting experience, with our powerful search function, large database of up-to-date and information-rich listings filled with photos, videos, virtual tours, map; as well as a large pool of useful resources.”
The iProperty.com Asia Property Trends Survey aims to reveal trends among Asian property buyers; including the key motivations for purchasing property, the types of property they are interested in, the countries they are keen on, their budgets, and how they go about conducting their property search and property research methodologies. This Survey was conducted online from 15 November to 31 December 2007, with results yielded from 2,066 respondents.
The average iProperty.com Malaysian survey respondent is highly educated (69% have a Bachelor’s degree or higher level of education), a professional or senior executive (60%) and has an annual income of at least USD20,000 / RM76,000 (53%).
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. It has over 400,000 visitors every month and more than 23,000 quality property listings. 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. The Group operates consumer and business online property portals in the markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Philippines, 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 used 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: +60166031271
Email: chris@iproperty.com
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APPENDIX
The iProperty.com Asia Property Trends Survey: Findings (Part 2)
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. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from iProperty.com. This Survey was conducted online from 15 November to 31 December 2007, with results yielded from 2,066 respondents.
Profile of Survey Participants:
Key Findings:
Malaysian buyer profile
- 51% have annual household incomes of USD20,000 (RM76,000) and above
- 69% have a bachelor’s degree or higher level of education
- 60% are professionals or senior executives
A) Malaysian Property Investor Behaviour
Preference for completed landed property
- Malaysian respondents strongly favour landed properties, with 59% and 53% voting for completed and newly launched condominium units respectively
Higher margin of finance
- 77% are seeking a margin of finance from 80% to 100%
Local buyers are equally savvy property investors
- 62% of Malaysian buyers are drawn to property investments, due to the capital appreciation they tend to generate.
Location & price are the 2 most important factors
- 57% consider `Location’ to be the most important factor when it comes to acquiring a property
- This is followed by 36%, who note `Price’ as the second most important factor
B) How Local Property Investors go about their property search
The Internet is their top and primary medium for property hunting
- A significant 50% of local investors said that the Internet is the first tool they use when starting their property hunt; compared to 23% for local newspaper classifieds and 10% for local property agents
Local 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, 51% indicated the Internet, followed by 25% and 10%, who relied on local newspaper classifieds and local agents, respectively.
The Internet is used extensively for these purposes
- 86% look for properties on sale
- 55% research property market trends
- 51% read property news
- 49% research developers
- 19% use if to look for real estate agents
Reasons why the Internet is their medium of choice:
- It is fast and saves time (82%)
- It is easy – for convenience and comfort (80%)
- It is available 24X7 (70%)
- They can view properties through pictures (63%)
- It is a better way to be updated on latest properties for sale (54%)
- I can get a better selection (44%)
--End of Appendix--
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