PETALING JAYA, Sept 11 ― Most Malaysian property developers are claiming a slowdown in sales after Putrajaya introduced cooling measures to rein in spiralling house prices, with pessimism expected to continue to next year.

In the Property Industry Survey for the first half of 2014 presented by the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) Institute today, 85 per cent of 152 developers admitted to experiencing a drop in sales.

Meanwhile, just 20 per cent of them felt “optimistic” over the property market industry’s outlook in the second half of 2014.

Only 13 per cent were “optimistic” for the first half of 2015, when the goods and services tax (GST) is expected to be implemented by April 1 next year.

According to Rehda president Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor, consumer financing is a “major obstacle” for the developers as 53 per cent of developers complained of problems with their buyers getting their loans approved.

“It’s so difficult to get financing. The rejection rate is so high … The term ‘responsible lending’ is something that I hope the banks will relook at,” Fateh told the press in Wisma Rehda here.

The survey showed that the highest number of rejected loan applications, at 30 per cent, were for homes priced between RM250,000 and RM500,000.

Rehda took issue with the 70 per cent maximum loan-to-value ratio imposed by the banks, pointing out that the majority of first time home buyers can afford to service their loans.

It also called for the Developer Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS) to be reinstated for first time home buyers, and for more flexibility from financial institutions for buyers in bigger cities.

This comes as the price range of most property developments launched in the period increased significantly compared to the previous half.

Prices for most launches in Kuala Lumpur, for example, rose to above RM1 million from being between RM500,000 to RM1 million previously.

Perak was the only state that experienced a fall in the most-launched price range in the first half of 2014, while there was no new launch at all in Terengganu.

“Realistically, prices of houses cannot go down,” said Fateh, as the survey showed that 61 per cent of respondents said that their overall costs of doing business increased.

“The only way is to provide more supply, not by making loans difficult,” he added.

In Budget 2014 tabled last year, Putrajaya doubled the  real property gains tax (RPGT) to 30 per cent for properties disposed within three years of acquisition, 20 per cent within the fourth year, and 15 per cent on the fifth year.

Putrajaya also forbade the DIBS in which the developer pays the interest payments for the buyers’ loans during the construction of a property, which was seen as an incentive for speculation.

The minimum price of property that may be purchased by foreigners was also doubled by Putrajaya from RM500,000 to RM1 million.

In addition, Malaysia will finally implement the long-delayed Goods and Services Tax (GST) at 6 per cent beginning April 2015, which will also apply to commercial properties transactions but not houses.