7 In 10 Malaysians Would Consider Buying A Home In 2019 With New Government Initiatives
However, one-third of people aren’t ready to change their lifestyles to afford a home.
By Jeremy Ng — 31 Jan 2019, 10:23 AM
Earlier this year, we ran a survey among 8,568 Malaysians to find out what they thought about buying a home in 2019
'The 2019 Malaysian Home Survey' ran from 27 December 2018 to 25 January 2019, and appeared on SAYS, OhBulan!, Rojaklah, ViralCham, and TanTanNews.
Surprisingly, we found that up to 7 in 10 Malaysians would consider buying a home in 2019 with new government initiatives
According to Budget 2019, the government will waive stamp duty charges for first-time homebuyers who purchase a home from RM300,001 to RM1 million in the first six months of the year. The National Affordable Housing Council has also been pushing for more affordable homes with its One Million Affordable Homes 2018-2028 project.
If we continue to see government initiatives like this for first-time homebuyers, it's likely that more Malaysians will consider buying a home in 2019.
However, while many Malaysians are hopeful about homeownership this year, 65% of them are uninformed about deals and housing promotions
During our survey, we found that 65% of Malaysians had not even heard of ONE ongoing housing promotion. This goes to show that our population is still largely unaware of the deals and offers available to them.
Buying a home is a major decision—1 in 5 Malaysians said that their major roadblock was “worrying about making the wrong decision”
Besides that, finances were also one of the roadblocks potential homebuyers faced. 23% of Malaysians said they could not afford the down payment, while 13% of Malaysians were unable to get the loan margin they desired.
But the most shocking fact is that one third of Malaysians found it hard to buy a home because they would be “unable to maintain their current lifestyle”
This goes to show that finance is not the only thing holding Malaysians back from buying a home. Instead, their mindset and willingness to change plays a role too.
Speaking of mindset, the main reason Malaysians want to own a home is not because of peer pressure, but to "have a sense of ownership"
Only 2% of Malaysians said their reason to own a home was because of the bugging by their parents or friends. Instead, 69% of Malaysians wanted to have a home for a sense of ownership, while 24% of Malaysians wanted to leave something behind for their family.
And the top priority for Malaysians when buying a home is location and connectivity
Now, the focus is not just about having homes in central locations, but to have well-connected homes. Central locations can be convenient, but congested and over-populated. On the other hand, homes that are slightly further away but well connected via highways may actually be more favourable for homebuyers in the long run.
Other than location, things that Malaysians value when looking for a home are design, security and amenities, as well as surrounding neighbourhood.
Of all the extra features Malaysians could have, 51% of people chose wet kitchen—it shows just how much we love food
Malaysians would also rather have garden space (49%), extra bathrooms (46%), and high ceilings (45%) over a walk-in wardrobe (39%).
If you are looking to buy a home, 2019 could be an exciting year thanks to efforts from the government and private sectors to make home ownership more affordable
According to The Edge Markets, Malaysians could see new property prices being reduced by 10%. Since last year, there have also been various schemes by different sectors to promote home ownership among Malaysians:
- Stay2Own by EcoWorld and Maybank is a newly-launched stay-to-own scheme where you can lock down the property's price today and pay only 3 months deposit to move into an EcoWorld property.
- FundMyHome by EdgeProp allows Malaysians to own a home by just paying 20% of the property price for the first five years.
- Bank Negara has also established a RM1 billion fund to help first-time homebuyers with a monthly income not exceeding RM2,300 to purchase affordable houses priced up to RM150,000 with a low financing rate of 3.5%.
Stay tuned to SAYS for more updates on the latest property offers and news in 2019. Tell us what you think about buying a home this year in the comments section!
