Age of Malaysia's population will help create demand for housing

Malaysia has tremendous potentials, one being the age of its population which will create great forward demand for housing and others, says Orkney Holdings Sdn Bhd, a company which provides consultancy services on strategy and project implementation in the real estate and services sectors.

Its Executive Chairman, Rafiq Jumabhoy, however, said due to the technological changes in Malaysia, the assets that were being built would need to be rethought.

"Malaysia's real estate outlook is patchy as there are certain parts of the country that are going to do well.

"Creating a blanket statement would be wrong. In Iskandar Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur we can see it but in Selangor you can't be definitive that it's going to be an oversupply," he told reporters on the sidelines of PropertyGuru's Malaysia Real Estate Summit here on Wednesday.

Rafiq was one of the speakers at the summit, presenting 'China's One Belt, One Road: How will it reshape Malaysia real estate market?'.

He said China's One Belt One Road initiative should be seen in two perspectives -- the country and the developers.

"The key thing is for the local developers to grab the opportunities from the high-speed rail and the East-West Link created by the initiative," said Rafiq.

He said the assets that needed to be held versus sold needed to be recalibrated as banks were short-term financial institutions and long-term funding needed to be created.

The one-day summit is a dedicated, high-level forum for industry leaders to come together to educate, innovate and inspire.

-- BERNAMA