Malaysia Money Matters

I created a simulator based on price, loan paydown, market value, profit on sale (including RPGT) and compared against using the same cash outlay into FD or investments. Running the 2 investment options against each other, while property wins in the long run, the returns actually flatten out over a long period of time because a cash investment (e.g. even at the safest asset class which is FD) gives an ever growing rate of return while a property's value growth slows after 8 to 9 years! That explains why mortgage portfolios price their rates on an 8-year longevity. Here is the final result of the simulation with the RPGT in place means that while you are better off holding in FD for 5 years, your maximum return is within the 7-9 year window before the property value growth begins to flatten: So you would break even at year 5 and have to hold for a few more years - up to 10 or 11 if you want to cash out more but that's up to you. update: Some anonymous reader ...

Check out brickz.my This website basically digitizes the public information of stamp duty paid on the sale price of all properties sold. Currently they have uploaded the data for the major urban areas of KL and Selangor. Believe Johor and Penang are on the way as is the rest of the country eventually. The great thing about it is that you can see a lot of details like transaction date, the price, property size and type - down to like intermediate or corner unit and even the floor level for condos and apartments. Hence, before you buy into an area or a unit, you can do an independent check yourself without relying on the real estate agent to get a good gauge of how much you should pay. The latest information is at the last 2 months - i.e. as of November, you will be able to see September 2015 data which is quite a good recency. Of course, for areas where there is active sales transactions, you will see up to September. Other areas that are quieter, you will see the most recent ...

After the recent launch of the Sunway BRT line, there will be several more BRT lines coming up - they are cheaper and faster to build as they utilise existing roads. So far I have only used the BRT in Bangkok - they only have 1 line so far and it has been running for some time now. Wonder why they haven't continued with more though? I guess there are certain challenges with Bangkok with the road width in the more densely populated areas, there isn't much leeway for a BRT line to take up more road space because the original road is fairly narrow as BKK is a very old city. Anyway, looking at the BRT plan for KL, it looks interesting - the only areas it doesn't seem to cover are the affluent neighbourhoods of Damansara Heights, Bangsar and Mont'Kiara. Also, looks like the Government is making the hard decision to take up 2 lanes on the MRR2 from Melawati to Jln Ampang - this stretch is jammed in the morning and will be worse with only 2 lanes for traffic instead of...

A commenter asked me about it some time ago and I said I didn't check it out ... and wasn't particularly planning to either because I thought it was already launched and sold out etc. ANYWAY, coincidentally a relative wanted to go see the showroom so I tagged along - seems to be a theme going on of me tagging along! and so I DID actually check out it. So here's the deal: This is the last parcel of land by the same developer of Villa Wangsamas and it is the plot closest to the Sri Rampai LRT station (surprised? Of course not, save the best of last, isn't it?). 3 towers of about 30+ floors if memory serves me correctly Leasehold Big-ish layouts, starts from 1.1k sf, 1.3k and I think the biggest is close to 2k sf thereabouts Price is about RM800 per square foot About 8 units per floor, each unit is like a "corner" because they are arranged in a circle around the lift column - so 4 pairs each, then each unit can have corner windows. What do I think...

Browsing through the PR write-up for Sunway Velocity, one of the points brought up was that the surrounding area of Jln Pudu and Jln Peel (Peel Road - I have fond memories as my mum used to teach at the Peel Road Convent and I used to hang out there, playing on the grounds while she finished up marking books before we went home) was a little 'run down' as it were and the developer said that the project would revitalise the whole area. So that got me thinking - is that true? First equivalent that comes to mind is the Kenanga Mall - sad to say, the surrounding area has not gentrified in any way or form. However, it must be said that the mall itself acts more like a wholesaler's mall - so the traffic there is made up of retailers going there to buy stock. It's purely business, so they are not going to hang around and spend on other stuff in the area. Next, Ampang Point - the shop lots around the complex were built first, and the area was dead for a long time until th...

A few of the recent launches are using the "upfront discount" method again so that essentially, it is back to the old 'no money down' model where buyers pay a booking fee and supposedly 'paid' the 10% deposit but the developer gives you back the money via discount. The bank then gives you a 90% loan but you actually did not fork out any equity. Now many or almost everyone would say what's wrong with that? But the thing is, you are actually buying an overvalued property. If this gets to a large scale and you try and offload the property once its built, your potential buyers will know that you bought it through this method and why would they want to pay the premium? Anyway, I know no matter what I say, this will still go on because people have short memories and by the time the development is complete, who is going to remember? And the cycle goes on. So the note to myself, in this case, is to stick with my plan to continue in the landed market, buy...

Saw a banner at the traffic junction on Desarina Bayu in Sri Rampai. It is a pretty high-end development for 3-storey terrace houses starting from about RM1.6 million up to RM2.5 million. The interesting / good thing is that it is a Build-then-Sell project; hence absolutely no risk of the project being abandoned. Only 70 units, so it must be a fairly small area. Location wise is where it starts to get a bit unstuck. It is adjacent to the Sri Rampai Business Park - which is quite a decent place, still new and has some decent Chinese eateries and a large car park area although that doesn't help if you are going to the shops on the other end of the centre. The problem is, unfortunately, Sri Rampai as a whole. It is a rather densely populated garden that has a working class population. Next to it is Kampung Rejang, an even more populated area that is distinctly down at heel... during the election, a friend of mine who was volunteering there was shocked. OK, admittedly, he i...

If you are cash rich, then your interest income from fixed deposits will go up. If you are paying off loans, actually you won't feel much because your repayment amount stays the same but the interest portion is now slightly higher. So what you should do, if you have some money in your EPF account 2, is to use that to pay down some of the principle of the loan to ensure your tenure is not extended unduly long. From the human psychology perspective, the rate hike will make house buyers nervous for a while so sales will go down a bit. Eventually though, they will get over it. This means that property prices will stabilise for a while then begin to pick up again because there will be housing pressure from a growing adult population. I believe now is a good time to look for distressed sellers and pick up a good bargain. Some people were very aggressive in buying properties during the boom, with "no money down" using inflated sales agreements - well, think that is goi...

Friend of mine who is a real estate agent sent me this - seems interesting.. Project Name : 28 Boulevard Location : Pandan Perdana Land area : 5.23 acres Tenure : Leasehold Components : Four 45 storey towers with Studios,1,2,3 and 4 bedroom units Size (Sq ft): 450, 710, 904. Pricing : from RM600 psf to RM650 psf Features:  ~Lakeside living ~Affordable pricing ~200,000 Sq ft of facilities ~Sky garden terraces ~Lakefront retail and alfresco dining ~Brought to you by the same people who  developed Marc Residence KLCC by Best Boulevard Sdn Bhd My take: High density - don't like. Leasehold - don't like Lower middle class area - well, usually the food choices are more and better :) Relatively affordable as it starts from under 300k - but for such a tiny unit. Reckon it's a buy call if you have the cash to put down a large chunk and rent it out. I wouldn't buy it for staying nor do I expect the value to appreciate much - oh it will...

There is some word, unpublicised as far as I know, that Bank Negara is looking seriously into the valuation practices of local banks. Mainly the way in which loan sales offices shop around valuers to get the valuation for the loan because it could be one of the factors driving up property prices. Well, in a way, yes it is a contributing factor but the margin of difference at which they are valuing is not really that large - based on observation, it is a fluctuation of about 5% to 7% in "hot areas" but true enough also that in low transacted areas, they can undervalue as much as 25% of the asking price. Which begs the question of is the market pricing too high or are valuers judging at too low / judging too high in hot areas in order to get the deal to do the final valuation report? After all, if they keep giving low verbal valuations, they will not get the business. If they give high values all the time, then it is an advantage to the seller and doesn't take into ...