KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 ― Property buyers have been advised to consider buying second-hand homes instead, as the real estate market is expected to remain lacklustre in 2017.

Several experts at the 10th Malaysian Property Summit here said the secondary market may give better value to customers amid falling volumes and values of the property market overall.

"There is a strong growth in the secondary market. Perhaps this is the area where there can be competition from the developers,” Foo Gee Jen, the president of Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultants in the Private Sector Malaysia, told a press conference.

"We have alternative rather than buying, getting freebies from developers. We have options to look at the secondary and options market to give you more on actual value, rather than the price consideration.”

The "freebies” Foo mentioned refer to incentives and additional services thrown in by developers to attract buyers in the form of "free legal fees” or "free stamp duty” absorbed by the developers, or in form of household items such as furnishings or appliances.

Earlier in her presentation, Dr Rahah Ismail of the Ministry of Finance said currently the secondary market makes up 82 per cent out of the transactions in the market.

In addition, Rahah said 69.6 per cent of transactions in the secondary market include properties below the RM300,000 price.

"As shown by the performance of the secondary market, the interest to buy property is still strong.

"The primary market has to compete with the secondary market in terms of the right pricing,” said the director-general of the ministry’s Valuation and Property Services.

Rahah also had urged property developers to review their pricing, as more lenders find their loan applications rejected.

"One thing that is of great concern when you look at the loans applied and approved, it has dropped down further to 40 per cent,” she told the press, referring to the 41.8 per cent approval rate in 2016 compared to 50.3 per cent in 2015.

"I would like to urge property developers when you price the property, I think you should exclude all freebies from the price as it would affect the eligibility of the house buyers,” she added.

This comes as volume of transactions fell 11.9 per cent in 2016 compared to the year before, while the value of transactions fell by 16.4 per cent, according to Rahah.

Almost all states in the country experienced decrease in market activity, with Putrajaya the worst hit. Only Kelantan and Kedah charted positive growth, buoyed by agricultural transactions.

Despite that, developers still find it hard to reduce prices while at the same time continue earning profit.

In a separate session, Datuk Ng Seing Liong, managing director of Kota Kelang Development Group had blamed factors including compliance cost, slow demand in certain locations, and the Goods and Services Tax.