Home prices fall in 60% of big Chinese cities

Copyright by AFP | May 19, 2012

Prices for new homes in China fell in more than 60 percent of major cities in April from March, the government said Friday, as moves to curb the property market took effect.

Out of 70 major cities tracked by the government, 43 registered month-on-month falls in house prices last month, although that number was less than the 46 cities recorded in March.

Prices were unchanged in 24 cities in April while only three cities saw price rises, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.China has implemented several measures aimed at limiting runaway property prices for more than a year, including bans on buying second homes, hiking minimum down-payments and introducing property taxes in certain cities.

Despite worries about the impact on the economy, authorities have shown little sign of easing their tight policies."We must firmly strengthen control of the property market... not allowing the adjustment and control (policy) to be reversed," a senior housing ministry official said in comments published Friday.


Zhang Xiaohong, deputy head of the ministry's market supervision department, said the goal was to return prices to "reasonable" levels, the official Securities Times newspaper reported.China recently announced a slew of disappointing economic figures for April, prompting the government to cut the amount of money banks must keep in reserve in a bid to boost lending -- and therefore growth.

Property investment also helps drive growth and land sale revenue is a key source of income for local governments.

But analysts said little change in government policy was expected in the short term."The adjustment of home prices is still in the middle of a long cycle.

We expect home prices to remain weak in the coming months," Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist for Nomura Securities, told AFP.

Pemilik rumah berang harga rumah jatuh di Shanghai

25 April 2012
DUNIA

Pemilik rumah berang harga rumah jatuh di Shanghai

JUALAN hartanah di China jatuh sebanyak 10 peratus, sekali gus menyebabkan

para pemaju memotong harga bagi menaikkan semula kadar jualan mereka.- Reuters

SHANGHAI - Beratus-ratus pembeli rumah yang marah mengadakan protes di ibu kota komersial China, di sini pada minggu ini kerana membantah kejatuhan harga hartanah milik mereka, lapor media pemerintah semalam.Terjejas akibat kemerosotan permintaan dan kekurangan dana, para pemaju bertindak memotong harga beberapa projek perumahan baru di bandar raya ini hingga 20 peratus.

Akhbar tempatan, China Business News melaporkan tindakan pemaju-pemaju itu mencetuskan kemarahan mereka yang membeli rumah-rumah serupa pada harga lebih tinggi.

Beberapa penganalisis memberitahu, siri protes itu yang adakalanya bertukar ganas, merupakan isyarat bahawa langkah-langkah pemerintah untuk memperlahankan kenaikan dalam pasaran hartanah di bandar-bandar utama China adalah berkesan.

Dalam insiden terbaru kelmarin, kira-kira 200 pemilik rumah menyerbu pejabat jualan sebuah projek perumahan yang dibangunkan oleh Greenland Group dan menuntut wang mereka dikembalikan.

"Kami mahu wang kami dipulangkan kerana kerugian yang kami alami terlalu besar," kata seorang penunjuk perasaan.

Dia mendakwa telah membayar AS$2,678 (RM8,327) untuk setiap meter persegi kediamannya pada tahun lalu. Tetapi pemaju kini memotong harga kediaman sama sebanyak 30 peratus untuk menggalakkan jualan.

Mengulas isu berkenaan, seorang penganalisis tempatan, Su Yan berkata pemaju terpaksa bertindak demikian kerana masalah dana.

"Para pemaju kini tertekan dan terpaksa mengurangkan harga hartanah," katanya. - AFP

Malaysia plans to double property prices for foreigners

Malaysia is looking to double the entry price at which foreigners can buy property in an attempt to curb spiralling prices.

Many foreigners have bought property in Malaysia as part of its 'My Second Home' programme Photo: Chris Hellier/Rex Features

By Justin Harper
3:54PM BST 16 Apr 2012

Presently non-Malaysians can buy a home as long as it costs RM500,000 (about £100,000) or more. But the government wants to raise the bar to RM1 million.

It is under pressure from young middle-class Malaysians who feel priced out of the property market with so many overseas buyers chasing the same real estate.

Malaysia is looking to attract thousands of foreign buyers to a new development on the southern tip of the country called Iskandar. It will be three times the size of neighbouring Singapore and will feature a financial district, education hub, leisure facilities and residential zones.

But it is believed the minimum price that foreigners can buy property here will be lowered to RM800,000 to attract more overseas customers. Iskandar will house the first overseas branch of Marlborough College along with faculties from many British universities, and a Legoland theme park.

Property agents say they were aware of the new rules but are unsure when they are likely to be implemented. One agent said: “I think we are at an early stage to gauge public response. Not all states will agree.”

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Zero approvals for My First Home scheme

By Shannon Teoh March 05, 2012

Sin Chew Daily reported today that banks are unwilling to risk loans with monthly

repayments worth more than half the applicant’s salary.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Putrajaya’s home ownership scheme for low-income earners has come to a grinding halt just a year after it was launched as banks are unwilling to risk loans with monthly repayments worth more than half the applicant’s salary.

The My First Home scheme launched by Datuk Seri Najib Razak last March offers 100 per cent financing to those aged below 35 and earning less than RM3,000 per month to purchase homes worth up to RM400,000.

But Chinese-language daily Sin Chew Daily reported today that a 30-year-loan for RM400,00 with a 4.3 per cent interest rate would require a monthly repayment of RM1,780.

“The banking industry finds that with an income of RM3,000, they do not qualify for RM400,000 loans,” it reported, adding that not a single loan under the scheme has been approved.

The scheme’s website also states that to qualify for the programme, the repayment commitment cannot exceed 55 per cent of the applicant’s gross income.

The newspaper also quoted an industry source as saying that “even if the loan is for 80 per cent, the buyer must pay a deposit of RM80,000 and many cannot afford to pay this.”

However, the government had said that a state-owned mortgage agency would put up the initial 10 per cent deposit required to purchase the houses.

Prime Minister Najib announced in October when tabling Budget 2012 that the RM220,000 ceiling would be raised to RM400,000 as property prices continued to spiral.

The National House Buyers Association (HBA) last year warned that an entire generation of young adults are at risk of being locked out of the property market due to runaway house prices.

Property prices in urban areas, such as Penang and Kuala Lumpur, rose by up to 40 per cent in 2010 fuelled by low interest rates and a surge in speculative buying, although prices grew slower last year due to dampened sentiment from tightening measures such as a hike in the real property gains tax for early disposals.

Some reports have also estimated that property prices jumped from 5.9 times income in
1989 to 10.9 times in 2010.

The Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey rates markets, whose property prices are 5.1 times median income or more, as “severely unaffordable”.