Malaysian property sector predicted to face challenges in 2023

Addressing a recent online workshop on property outlook 2023, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd managing director Mohd Imran Mohamad Salim said the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the property market was very obvious, including inflation, interest rates hikes, productivity lag, labour shortages as well as issues in the supply chain which either drive up cost or reduce productivity.

Property sales were impacted due to the movement control order (MCO) and the lockdowns implemented throughout 2020 and 2021, he added.

According to Mohd Imran, Malaysian real estate developers are now focusing on keeping their costs low while looking into the sort of products to put out there, and they will come up with very innovative ways to do sales and promote their products, or even to extend migrating out from one property sector to another.

For consumers, now is a very good time to purchase as the property sector is experiencing the cycle to address stock which is readily available, in addition to a lot of innovative offerings, he noted.

Meanwhile,Azmir Merican, Managing Director at Sime Darby Property Bhd, was of the view that the demand for properties is not expected to fall drastically in 2023, amid the expected slowdown. He said the sector underwent a significant recovery this year, driven by pent-up demand.

He also pointed out that the demand for industrial property products will remain attractive.