PKNS Managing Director Haji Azlan Md Alifiah’s insight on property outlook.
“The market outlook in terms of the offering is actually slowing down except for landed properties,” says Haji Azlan. He also thinks that there will be a situation of oversupply for the commercial units. Nonetheless, he views that Malaysian property outlook as being cautious.
For the affordable level, he says, “between RM160k – RM250k, or slightly higher to RM300k, the rejection rate on the borrowing, the lending to this group of people of the population, is close to about 70% being rejected. So on one part, the monetary policy has managed to reduce certain level of this speculation.”
Haji Azlan’s personal opinion is that this situation has to be relooked by Bank Negara, to encourage “the population, especially the newly graduate and the newlyweds to buy their first house.” He adds, “I do understand that the data in regards to household debts is very scary, close to 84% our household debt to GDP ratio, but we have to find ways. This is something we are always in discussion with the state; to find ways how to be able to fulfil the needs. What we are afraid of, when the borrowing is too restrictive, then it is this market that will face the consequences, not the people who have it.”
PKNS is currently being circumspect regarding the market outlook for Malaysian property. Although some of PKNS’s future developments are already in its pipeline, it has plans to curtail some of these investments and wait for the upside. According to Haji Azlan, PKNS as a property player in the market is keeping its radar on but, regardless of obstacles, PKNS will move forward and continue in their responsibility to develop properties for the people.
“So this is where, come our 50th anniversary last year something that we need to be able to articulate, able to plan, able to execute, so that we are able to sustain ourselves beyond the next 10, 15, or 50 years. So this is where we also want to create new business. Like I said, I’m not a property man per se from background, but I’m an asset manager, when I look at asset, I need to be able to make it more efficient, more effective, lengthening the life of those assets,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing.”