Napic: Property deals rise to RM25.2bil in Q1

Saturday, April 24, 2010


Napic: Property deals rise to RM25.2bil in Q1


KUALA LUMPUR: Property transactions for the first quarter this year increased to 91,979 worth RM25.2bil, says National Property Information Centre (Napic) director Dr Zailan Mohd Isa.


Datuk Chor Chee Heung launching Napic’s property report. With him are Napic valuation director-general Datuk Abdullah Thalith Md Thani and valuation deputy director-general Abdul Hamid Abu Bakar.

“Last year’s record showed that 79,024 transactions worth RM16.92bil were done in the same period,” she told reporters after the launch of Napic’s property report yesterday.

“The transactions done in the first quarter this year covers all sectors that include residential, shopping complex, shops, offices and industrial building.”

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung, who launched the report, said the outlook for property market this year would be much better than last year.

“The recent Budget has proposed various measures to spur the property market. Apart from providing new homes for the needy groups, the issue of abandoned housing projects have also been tackled.

“The 5% real property gains tax have also been reintroduced to prevent speculation on the price of houses. All these will contribute to the growth of the market,” he said.

Chor added that the Government wanted to spur the Islamic Real Estate Investment Trust (I-REIT) industry to increase foreign direct investments in the country, especially those by Middle-Eastern investors.

“The Malaysian REITS industry, in general, is still small compared with other countries like Singapore, which is worth US$15.1bil and Hong Kong US$8.3bil.

“Ours is worth just about US$1.43bil and we need to do more to increase the FDIs into our property market,” he said.

Chor also said the recent hike in overnight policy rate by Bank Negara would not give much impact on the property market.

By The Star (by Edy Sarif)