Foo, who is also C H Williams, Talhar & Wong Sdn Bhd managing director, said he expected prices of the residential segment to increase by 4% and commercial developments by more than 6%.

A greater concern, said Foo, would be the commercial sub-segment.

A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that the Customs Department expected a 0.5% to 2% increase in house prices while the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia maintained a 2.6% increase.

Organising chairman of the event Datuk Seri Mani Usilappan suggested property buyers to consider the secondary market if they want to avoid the GST element.

“About 80% of residential transactions are in the secondary market so if they do not want to pay GST, they should consider the secondary market,” Mani said.
On the overall high property prices, Mani said prices would dip if the economy did not perform, as there was strong correlation between the property market and the gross domestic product.

“Besides, the high prices are confined to the Klang Valley.

“The property markets in Ipoh and Johor Baru have been sleeping for a long time. It is only of late that prices are increasing.

“The thing is 90% of the attention is on the Klang Valley while 90% of the population are outside the Klang Valley,” said Mani.


For more information on Building and Construction event, please visit www.asiapacificevents.com