The week in real estate: Malaysian manipulation, life-saving paint and billionaire problems

Our round-up of property news from the past week

Are some Malaysian real estate developers up to no good?

Could the paint on your living room walls save your life?

What keeps the world’s billionaires awake at night?

Read on to find out…

New research

Juwai: Q2 2016 Global Property Index (GPI) Report

The Juwai Global House Price Index was released this month, marking New Zealand out as having the world’s fastest growing real estate prices for Q2 2016.

In Asia, there is sharp polarisation. “Nine Asian markets were upbeat and either charted housing price gains or performed better than the previous quarter, while the remaining Asian markets continued their declining streak.”

Find the report here.

PwC: Billionaires Insights

While not many people will be sympathizing with the worlds billionaires over this issue, we can understand the red flags involved with leaving your offspring property and businesses worth billions of dollars that they are not prepared for.

According to the “Billionaires Insights” report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, many HNWI’s will end up “cashing out” or even opting for a private equity holding company model if their heirs appear “untested” or unreliable at managing the family wealth.

Such inheritors will be groomed for “ownership rather than management,” which will be delegated to external hires. “This is a logical method to preserve wealth in a region where it is sometimes difficult for heirs to take over family businesses,” the report stated.

Find the report here.

Country news

Malaysia

Malaysian property developers have been accused of manipulating home price inflation this week.

Chang Kim Loong, secretary-general of the National Home Buyers Association (NHBA), called on the federal government to impose stronger regulatory measures on certain forms of property speculation. “Today, developers continue to artificially increase price of new launches and then give rebates set off against the downpayment,” he said.

This scheme enables speculators to buy Malaysian properties in bulk, leading to an increase in prices. Developers allegedly markup price points to reflect the required downpayment that will then be offset with rebates. “This again artificially increase house prices and encourages false demand as no downpayment is actually paid,” Chang said.

Vietnam

Despite several ecological issues this year, Vietnam real estate appears to be pulling through regardless.

So far this year the country has received USD1 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) in real estate, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Overseas Investment Agency.

Real estate represented 6.1 percent of the total FDI over the period, with a total of 34 new property projects. Over the same period, six industrial zones, representing 700 hectares of leasable area, were opened throughout the country.

Industrial zones in Vietnam also performed impressively in the first half of 2016, Savills Vietnam reported. Total leasable area in this property segment jumped by 5 percent from the end of last year to 28,500 hectares.

Cambodia

Phnom Penh’s western areas remained flat in Q3, an analyst with Cambodia-based real estate firm VTrust Appraisal told Khmer Times. Price growth in Por Senchey district, which takes up most of the city’s western area, has fallen short of expectations for most of the year to date.

“In three quarters of 2016, prices have been sluggish due to the overall slump in real estate prices, where the downward spiral began in late 2015,” said VTrust Appraisal research director Hoem Seiha.

Phnom Penh’s western region is an especially populous portion of the Cambodian capital. The district of Por Senchey alone is home to 30 percent of the city’s existing landed housing units that were completed between 2002 and 2016

Trends

Paint with purpose

When choosing a new wall paint for your living space, you are no longer limited to just colour. Your walls could now save your life … maybe.

There are two new decorative interior paints that have caught our attention, both containing additives that claim to have potential life-saving benefits.

Our favourite is the new Kansai Paint formula, with a chemical that plays with the nervous system of mosquitos meaning they steer clear of your property altogether. With the current Zika scare, as well as the ongoing danger of Dengue in the region, we can’t think of a better time to re-decorate.

Also quite interesting is Nippon’s anti-viral paint, a new addition to their range. Using silver-ion technology, the paint kills viruses and bacteria. The formula is especially useful if you have kids, who are prone to touching everything and then putting their fingers in their mouths.

Read more about these paints here.

Source: Property Report