10 truly Malaysian things that affect property prices

Ya, ya… We know that property prices are way up nowadays, but there are certain instances when it can drop, especially in a country as superstitious as ours. So as a potential property buyer in Malaysia, we reckon you might need to get your blood pressure monitored regularly, especially once we asked some friends about what are some truly Malaysian things that can affect a property’s value:

But CILISOS knows nuts about property (our office rented wut). So where do we get the real answers from? We get them from experts from a cool new property social network called PropSocial.my – who are actually on the same floor in the same rented office as us ;).

 

Pffft. What makes PropSocial.my the experts?

Well, actually… you.

What Propsocial does is it takes opinions and reviews from ugaiz, and feeds them onto a news feed (yes, similar to the ones on social media). You can then subscribe to let’s say “Bangsar” and “Kajang” (if tak cukup duit) and your news feed will magically be populated with…

• latest property prices for sale and/or rent
• property discussions
• other news like new launches, LRTs or even crimes that have happened

…but ONLY in the areas you subscribe to (and their surroundings).

Cause let’s be honest – the last thing you want in your new home is finding out all the problems after signing the S&P, like bad management or a meth lab or even horrible neighbours like this one:

Besides the boards, you can also follow properties or locations to get updates on them. Plus, it’s transparent – contract period, rental deposit, utility deposit, notice period, yaddah yaddah? They’re all there!

 

But we all know there’s more to property prices than that…

Yep, as we said, Malaysians are a weird bunch. And so their property prices are affected in the weirdest ways. Thankfully, PropSocial.my’s discussion boards mentioned most of these, so we trawled through to find what some of the truly Malaysian stuff that affect property prices really are.

 

1. “Got people die there or not?”

Effect on property price: Drops

Why: Who the heck wants to live in an ex-murder scene?! Plus, ada toyol/syaitan/hantu!

While some consider toyols to be a good thing to keep, others are a little more apprehensive of the supernatural. C’mon guys, we’ve watched enough Ju On to wet our beds at night.

If a certain building has horror stories about suicides, your property surely cialat already. By the second death, we can almost guarantee that people will start saying stuff like, “Eh that building haunted leh!!!” Stories will usually be accompanied by warnings against being on certain floors at certain times…

We also found this PropSocial discussion which highlighted several haunted spots such as Flora Damansara, BRDB Verdana etc. It also reminded us about the grisly Mont Kiara murder, among others. 11 body parts of an adult guy discovered by the unit’s new owners and a security guard? Ahh, the stuff of nightmares.

 

2. The big fat 6%

Effect on property price: Rises

Why: Because got tax mah, sure price increase

We’re sure you guys already know we were referring to GST. With its introduction on 1 April (seriously… of all days) property prices, along with many other things, are expected to be affected. Loanstreet helped us with a very helpful article: Residential property may be ‘exempt-rated’, but while developers may not bill home buyers for GST, they could transfer the costs on the sale price itself. Aiyoyoyoyo 🙁

But if you’re one of those TLDR people, you can snap up so much bite-sized info on PropSocial. It’s amazing who you can meet in forums and discussion boards, like there was this one guy who explained things on the board because he attended a customs seminar:

So then it got the ball rolling and everyone was just contributing their knowledge of GST and stuff. OK la, so good, old house prices not expected to increase because of GST which is good news for some of us. Try to buy old houses lor.

Sadly though, GST is expected to eat into maintenance fees too for high rise properties. Owners could be looking at a 10% increase or more on that, according to the Building Managers Association of Malaysia (BMAM) President Tan Sri Eddy Chen.

But we keep talking about GST so boring already, let’s move on to other things.

 

3. “Got LRT/MRT/KTM?”

Effect on property price: Increase

Why: Having a public transport hub or station makes travelling very convenient

Malaysians always complain stuck in jam, especially in urban areas. Even though we’re not the worst in the world (for a list of the worst click here), we are apparently losing RM5.51 billion (!) in productivity every year to traffic jams.

And yet, we have the third highest car ownership in the world, according to the Nielsen Global Survey of Automotive Demand. 93% of Malaysian households own a car. So like that always cannot find parking, double parking, parking fails, road drama, etc. Aiyo…

Heh, sorry for rambling. But the point is, any means of convenience or saving on petrol will be cherished like a first-born son. So, property close to any public transport hub is onzzz. Don’t ask CILISOS where to find, check out what property buyers are saying…

 

4. Upcoming shopping malls

Effect on property price: Increase

Why: Totes yo! Got shopping mall, property locations become hotter for sure

Malaysians LURVE shopping. It’s the place to see and be seen, hang out with friends, watch movies, eat, and of course, buy stuff. Our country has in fact been voted the 4th top shopping destination in the world by CNN Travel. Maybe it’s because our malls are often on sale – Year End Sale, Hari Raya Sale, CNY Sale, 1Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival, etc.

Not only are shopping malls a haven for business and consumer culture, but it can really transform an area. Like ever since Pavilion was officiated, the value of properties around the vicinity have increased three to five times and it also triggered others to upgrade their properties, according to Joyce Yap, Kuala Lumpur BBKLCC Tourism Association Chairman.

That’s why malls are continuously being developed. In Klang Valley alone, there’s Atria, Sunway Velocity and more, coming up. We’ve long recognised the importance of shopping to drive the economy and tourism sector.

Not to mention if you choose to meet people at a mall near your house, they will never call you the ‘on-the-way’ feller again. 😀

 

5. “Got angmoh or not??”

Effect on property price: Increase

Why: Got angmoh means expat salary, got expat salary means can afford expensive property, so property prices go up

If we know that a certain location is an expat hotspot, we know we’ll probably have to pay through our noses for real estate there. Look at Mont Kiara for example, it’s very densely population, almost entirely by expats according to The Expat.

One discussion board user shared that her aunt bought a condo unit for RM800,000 many years ago. Now each unit is more than a million ringgit. As for rental, we found that some condo units could go for RM2,300 to RM13,000 a month. WTH, you can buy two second hand Kancils for that price!

And to address the elephant in the room, yes, angmohs usually have the perception of being ‘rich people’. (Even they told us so!) So if you’ve got rich people staying in your place, that becomes the perceived value of the place hence said property value would also shoot up lor.

 

6. “Building got chow tut before or not?”

Effect on property price: Decrease

Why: If it happens again, can die leh! 

Shoddy construction seems to be very rampant. We even wrote an article once on 6 epic fail (and deadly) constructions. There’s one very hard to believe case in Taman Sejahtera, Kedah, where water was coming out of the walls of a house, out of some electrical wires, and even out of a socket! That house one chow tut like mad la, seriously…

But on a more serious note, there’s the Highland Towers collapse which was a really HUGE case, and very recently the scaffolding fall at Atria Shopping Gallery that punctured one guy’s Audi. Thankfully the owner was unhurt.

Seriously though, when buildings have structural problems, a lot of money has to be spent on repairs. Plus, if it happens again then how? Choyyy! Would you want to take that chance? That’s why it’s always important to do your research before buying property.

 

7. “Got KLCC view or not?”

Effect on property price: Increase

Why: KLCC view means your property is close enough to the City Centre to be friggin’ expensive

Unlike Paris, where it seems the Eiffel Tower is visible from every window, our majestic KLCC Twin Towers is not always right smack in our faces. If it is, we imagine you’d be rich enough to afford it, so every morning when you open your window and see the Towers, it makes you want to sing and birds want to sing along with you. Plus, you can jual mahal.

So how expensive is ‘Binjai-Park-expensive’? Well, one wealthy buyer bought the triplex penthouse there for RM38 million. That’s RM2,660 per sqft. A record holder! In fact since 2010, there’s been a trend of record-breaking condominium prices. Aside from The Binjai, there’s The Four Seasons Place (is it just us, or are properties’ with names starting with ‘The’ super expensive?) with an average price of RM2,950 per sqft.

 

8. “House number got ‘4’ or ’13’ or not?”

Effect on property price: Decrease

Why: Very sueh ok

To the Chinese, 4 is an unlucky number because the word sounds like ‘die’. ‘Tze’ and ‘tze’…see? That’s why 4 is often replaced with 3A, which you can see on elevator buttons and building floors (Level 3 > 3A > 5). Naga DDB even made a hilarious ad once about the changing the year 2014 to 2013A.

In Indian culture, 8 is the unlucky number, so if you’re selling property to a Chinese or Indian buyer, don’t la show them a #4 or #8 unit. As for number 13, it’s considered unlucky in some countries, except in Italy where it’s considered good luck.

But numbers aren’t the only thing that can affect a property’s value. Like we said, Malaysians are superstitious, so you gotta make sure the property is not triangular, doesn’t face a cemetery (or you’ll get night visitor), doesn’t face a mountain (represents blocks in your life), yaddah yaddah. For more ‘sueh’ signs, check out this discussion thread.

 

9. “Got universities ke?”

Effect on property price: Increase

Why: Investors will buy property to rent out to students

Nearby universities, colleges or schools create a source of income for the people and businesses around the area. For property investors specifically, they will want to buy houses or apartment units to rent out to students. There will always be a steady stream of tenants and owners don’t have to go looking for them.

Just look at SS15 area where there’s Taylor’s, Inti and Metropolitan College – you can see ‘room for rent’ signs hanging on the house gates. In fact, property in SS15 has increased in value over the years, like MAD!

 

10. “Was it a mining pool?”

Effect on property price: Depends

Why: May be dangerous, but can be built to sustain 

The interest in using ex-mining pools for recreation spots, housing estates and even agriculture, was reported as early as 1988 on New Straits Times. But people are worried there might be sinkholes. Hey, it could happen, as seen by Kampung Pengkalan Gate Tambahan 2 residents. Three houses were damaged as sinkholes appeared in the former tin-mining neighbourhood.

Originally, properties in Bandar Sunway were sold cheap because they were built on ex-mining land. People were afraid that the sinkholes would appear and swallow their houses up. But as more people moved in with no untoward incidents, developers began constructing more upmarket homes. Look at Bandar Sunway today – it’s so congested (and expensive!) that you’d be lucky enough to find a parking lot to grab dinner!

 

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Ok… We know that in reality, there are waaaay more than these 10 reasons. Proximity to religious places, banana leaf restaurants… Got infinity pool or not, got tasik or not, got FAKE tasik or not (oxidation pond)… Crime rate controllable or not, got pasar malam or not… The list can go on forever.

This is why PropSocial.my was created – to get Malaysians to talk about all things property instead of being yet another site full of listings with some agent’s name and phone number plastered all over the photos. House-hunting itself is a tedious process already, so isn’t it great that someone else did the homework for us? 😀

Also, they help pay the rent on our floor… so kasi chan and sign up can? #CILISOSNOSHAME