THE property market, especially the landed residential sector, has shown strong signs of recovery, spurred by a positive outlook on the economic and employment/income scene, according to a survey.

However, sentiment in the commercial sub-sector will be less bullish, due to the prevailing glut in such properties.

CH Williams Talhar & Wong managing director Goh Tian Sui said the latest WTW annual chief executive officers (CEOs) property sector survey revealed that over 80% of the respondents expected the residential property market to be on an up cycle next year.

''Over 60% of the respondents expect more Malaysians to invest in property in 2004, while almost half believe the number of properties changing hands will increase by more than 10% over this year,'' he said.

About 5% were less bullish, believing the market would bottom out; and another 5% believe that the market would still be on the down swing.

''With the exception of the holiday homes sub-sector, about 60% of the respondents expect prices in most property sectors to improve or at least remain stable in 2004,'' Goh told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday to announce the survey findings.

A total of 119 CEOs in a cross section of businesses and professions related to the property sector took part in the survey, conducted in September.

For the landed residential sub-sector, more than two-thirds of the respondents said they expected prices to improve, with more than a third expecting an increase of at least 10%.

A third of the respondents expected buying interest in all property types in the landed residential sector to stay at a ''very high'' level.

Goh said more than half of the respondents said employment/income level and economic growth would have a greater influence on property investment decisions next year than the performance of the stock market, as in previous years.

''Over half of the respondents believe income per capita next year will increase, which augurs well for the property sector,'' he said.

Rentals for all types of residential units were expected to improve or remain stable; but that for commercial and industrial properties were expected to decline.

He said strong buying interest for terraced houses was evident among Malaysians, while foreign buyers preferred condominiums and apartments. Most respondents felt industrial property would attract little interest.

Over 70% of the respondents expected prices of non-landed residential units, especially condominiums and apartments, to either improve or at least remain stable; and almost 20% felt the surplus of condominiums, apartments and all types of commercial properties would remain next year.

A quarter of the respondents felt that prices of building or development land were on the rise, but only about 30% expected an improvement in prices of commercial property.

As for the influence of the annual Budget, Goh said only about a quarter of the respondents felt it would have a positive effect, as most of the incentives for the property sector had been extended in the May economic stimulus package.

Source : The Star  11/12/2003