[KUALA LUMPUR] The majority of property agents in Malaysia say they are upbeat about the real estate sector’s outlook for 2024, with many anticipating that residential prices and rentals will increase in the next 12 months.

This was one of the key findings from a new survey by IQI, a global real estate agency network that’s also a member of Malaysia-based technology group Juwai IQI. A total of 203 agents and negotiators took part in the poll that was conducted from Nov 1 to Nov 22.

In a report accompanying the survey findings that was released on Tuesday (Dec 5), IQI noted that nine in 10 respondents (91.1 per cent) would advise a friend to buy a property, with the remaining 8.9 per cent suggesting that people should rent instead.

“The buy–rent ratio reveals strong confidence in the real estate market,” said Kashif Ansari, the co-founder and group chief executive of Juwai IQI who’s also the group CEO of IQI.

He noted that the numbers are nearly as lopsided in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor as they are country-wide, with 88.8 per cent for buying versus 11.2 per cent for renting.

He made the point that agents may recommend buying because they expect significant increases in both sales prices and rents in 2024.

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This optimism might be based on expected economic trends, investment inflows, infrastructure improvements, and demand and supply dynamics, he said.

On the pricing outlook, 95 per cent of the respondents are optimistic that the housing price will rise next year, and 97 per cent anticipate rental growth to escalate in future 12 months.

The forecast is for a 9.95 per cent increase in residential prices and a 9.57 per cent increase in rents during the coming year. Specifically in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, the industry expects prices to climb by 9.7 per cent and rentals by 9.9 per cent.

Ansari said that the widespread anticipation of an increase in home prices and rentals could encourage more local and foreign investment, which would lead to developers launching more projects.

According to data from Malaysia’s National Property Information Centre, the real estate market saw the value of transactions increase by 1.1 per cent to RM85.3 billion (S$24.5 billion) from January to June this year, from RM84 billion during the same six-month period in 2022.

The transaction volume in the first six months of 2023, however, dropped 2.1 per cent to 184,140 units, from 188,002 during the same period last year.

The residential property segment continued to drive the market, accounting for over 60 per cent of the total transaction volume and nearly 53 per cent of the total transaction value.

As for the outlook on Malaysia’s economy, over half (56 per cent) of the property agents said they anticipate more robust economic growth in the next 12 months. About a third (33.5 per cent) felt the economy will weaken.

In October, the World Bank projected Malaysia’s economy to expand 3.9 per cent this year and by 4.3 per cent in 2024.