{"id":26009,"date":"2016-09-09T13:14:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T05:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/?p=26009"},"modified":"2016-09-09T17:16:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T09:16:23","slug":"developers-home-financing-good-news-buyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/developers-home-financing-good-news-buyers","title":{"rendered":"Developers Home Financing: Is It Good News For Buyers?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Zero down payment, free furnishing, free home insurance coverage and even \u2018creative\u2019 naming of the development are just some of the tactics developers have been using to push the sale of their new developments.<\/p>\n
What else can they do? How about helping you get financing from outside of a bank to help with your purchase. The recent news to add to the list is 100% financing will soon be offered by developers in order to help them sell their units.<\/p>\n
According to Tan Sri Noh Omar<\/a>, minister of the Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government, eligible developers can now apply for a money lending license from the ministry to offer up to 100% financing.<\/p>\n The catch is, these home loans offered by the developers will only be up to 20 years tenure, with an interest rate of up to 12% (with collateral) and 18% (without collateral). That\u2019s pretty steep compared to what\u2019s being offered by commercial banks.<\/p>\n Why is the Government allowing developers to take on the job of a bank? They are allowing developers to provide housing loans to overcome difficulties faced by buyers in securing bank loans.<\/p>\n \u201cThis proposal is a win-win solution for both developers and house buyers,\u201d Noh added.<\/p>\n Developers offering financing is not really new. In March this year, Sunway Berhad<\/a> made the news by offering 88% financing to home buyers to boost sales.<\/p>\n Before we decide on whether this is a good or bad idea, let\u2019s take a look at the real reason why this idea was mooted in the first place.<\/p>\n This might be a workable solution if the problem for the sluggish property market is really due to tighter lending restrictions and higher home loan rejection rates. However, this may not be the only reason why properties are not flying off the shelfs for these developers.<\/p>\n Between January and February this year, the mortgage rejection rate<\/a> in the country stood at 20.39% on average, while residential properties above RM3 million saw the highest rejection rate of 36%.<\/p>\n In fact, the rejection rate was reported as declining from 30% in 2014 to 20%<\/a> in 2015.<\/p>\n Clearly, lending restrictions and rejection rate are not the reasons why the property market is not doing as well as before.<\/p>\n The truth is just that the property market is slowing down.<\/p>\n According to the Knight Frank Malaysia\u2019s Real Estate Highlights for 1st Half 2016, the volume and value of residential property transactions have been declining in the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. The transactions declined by 8.3% and 11.4% respectively in 2015 when compared to 2014.<\/p>\n The same goes to the property market in Selangor. According to NAPIC Property Market Report 2015<\/a>, the volume of property transaction in the state fell by 5%, while the value slipped by 7.7%.<\/p>\n Growth in the Malaysian House Price Index was also muted at 5.8% in 4Q2015, the lowest since 1Q2010 (5.7%). It\u2019s not just because home buyers are not getting their loans approved.<\/p>\n The applications for home loan has also dipped by 10% in 2015, when compared to 2014, while the amount of loan approved slipped by 14.6%. This shows lower ratio of approvals\/applications at 50.2% (2014: 52.9%).<\/p>\n If it\u2019s not financing, then what is it?<\/p>\n The general slowdown in the real estate market is largely due to the cooling measures previously introduced by the Government to curb excessive speculation in the property market. These measures include hike in Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT)<\/a>, abolishment of the Developer\u2019s Interest Bearing Schemes (DIBS), and increment in the minimum purchase price for foreigners.<\/p>\n These measures have met their objectives because the property market has definitely slowed down because there are less property speculators in the market. However, genuine buyers still want to buy properties, especially for the first-time home buyers, but there is a gap between the supply and demand.<\/p>\n Potential buyers are looking for affordable housing, while developers are churning out high-end properties that cost at least RM1,300 per square foot<\/a> in Kuala Lumpur. This has resulted in these properties not moving, and many buyers unable to purchase their first property.<\/p>\n<\/span>Is the rejection rate really soaring?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>So, what is the real reason?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n