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House sales may slow down prior to 2019 election: property agent
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (center) inspects low-cost housing in Bekasi, West Java, on April 4. (JP/ecn)
H
ouse sales are likely to slow in the coming years as banks remain reluctant to cut interest rates, forcing prospective buyers to wait for the presidential election in 2019, a trader has said.
“Changes in interest rates will affect people’s ability to buy houses,” Ignatius Untung, country general manager of online housing portal rumah123.com said during a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.
“People may wait for election to know whether they have ability to pay the mortgage installments."
Read also: Government housing program gets boost
He said that buyers would expect to see changes in economic policy that could push the interest rate down after the election, regardless of which leader was elected.
He also said that such a situation had discouraged property developers from expanding their businesses in the past few years.
However, Ignatius added that property developers would go all-out in the first half of 2018 to try and boost sales to anticipate slow sales in the second half. (bbn)
