New Property vs Subsale in Malaysia. Which One Should You Buy?

Should You Choose A Subsale Or Brand New Property

It's not enough to just state a budget for the purchase of a subsale or brand new property; you'd also have to take into consideration the many various costs (apart from the downpayment), amenities, location, and time frame involved!

Below are the pros and cons for new properties and subsale properties in Malaysia.

Advantage of New Property:

1) Completely New
You get to enjoy fully or partially furnished new fittings provided for free by the developer as well as enjoy staying in a new community with new amenities.

2) Attactive Package by The Developer
May have special rebates or discounts/offers to encourage and entice home buyers (legal fees borne by developer, stamp duty exemption, minimal downpayment, etc.)

3) Options to choose your preferred unit
Flexibility in choosing the unit type, facing which direction, which floor plan, etc.

Disadvantage of New Property

1) Waiting time until the home is completed.
Usually it takes 3 years+ for until the completion. May run the risk of the construction of the building delayed due to external/internal issues or worse, the project being abandoned!

2) Final product discrepancy. The quality of the final product may not turn out as per the brochure’s illustrations or from what was previously observed in the building model and show house gallery.

Advantage of Subsale Property in Malaysia

1) You can move in very soon
Immediate use when buying existing properties. Once you purchase an existing property, it usually takes 2 - 3 months for the legal paperwork to be finalised before you can move into the property.

2) Able to see the actual condition of the property
Able to see and get a feel of what the property and what its neighbourhood is like, as you can physically visit the place and observe the environment.

Can inspect the property. You get what you pay for i.e. you will know the exact view, noise, smells, everything. In other words, the actual condition of the property you are planning to buy. This will be useful as you can roughly estimate a cost for repairs and use that to your advantage to negotiate for a better selling price.

Disadvantage of Subsale Property in Malaysia:

1) Higher cost to purchase. There is no flexibility in payment when you purchase a sub-sale home and you will need to settle in full for payments such as booking fee, 10% deposit, stamp duty etc.

2) Limited options of unit
Only particular units or locations are available.

3）More legal work and documentation. Ready to move in properties usually require a lot of legal work and paperwork for property transfer and ownership as compared to buying an under construction property. This might become a hassle to new home buyers as they might need to make several visits to the Land Registry Office.

4. Cost of Repairment
It's normal to have wear and tear if the property has been occupied before. Hence, purchaser of subsale property is advised to hire professionals for inspection, and reserve a fund for repairment.

Hope the above sharing is helpful for you. If you're looking for a new property / subsale property in Kuala Lumpur, feel free to contact us:

Wen Hsiang (REN 25675)
+6013- 362 3404
Fortress Real Estate Sdn Bhd