KUALA LUMPUR: House prices in Malaysia is expected to climb three per cent over the next 12 months and will continue to surge by 12 per cent in the following 12 months on improved outlook.

In terms of rental market, although rent would show just one per cent growth over the coming 12 months, it is expected to bounce up to eight per cent after the third quarter of 2022 (Q3 2022), real estate technology group Juwai IQI said in its latest property survey released today.

"The outlook for Malaysia's residential real estate market is improving.

"As we go about reopening and putting the pandemic behind us, we expect to see an increase in transaction activities and prices later this year," said group co-founder and chief executive officer Kashif Ansari.

He pointed out that first-time house buyers were seen to be the real winners in the current market, with 35 per cent of new home transactions and 31 per cent of sub-sale transactions in the first half of 2021 (H1 2021) were conducted by this group of purchasers.

"First-time buyers are benefitting from the government's stimulus policies, as they have increased savings and a stronger motivation to purchase their own home because of the pandemic," he said.

He added that many people in these groups spent less on travel, entertainment and other living expenses since the pandemic began, hence, the accumulated savings had helped them to purchase their first homes.

According to Kashif, 56 per cent of the nearly 400 agents surveyed believed that first-time buyers would continue to demonstrate the fastest rate of transaction growth for the remainder of 2021.

"The states expected to record the most substantial first-time buyer growth are Penang and Perak, with three-quarters of agents in those states projecting such increase," he said.

On foreign buyers, he said the survey showed that the share of transactions attributable to foreign buyers had fallen to its lowest level on record -- just 13 per cent of the total purchases made in H1 2021.

"Foreign buying won't recover until the borders reopen, but when that happens, their transactions will need to increase by more than 50 per cent from the present levels," he added.

-- BERNAMA