Can Foreign Investment In Real Estate Improves Host Country's Affordability?

Inflows of foreign capital are necessary to complement the available domestic fund or capital of host countries. Foreign capital may also bring in management skills, latest technology and so on, which later has the potential to be transferred to local firms in host countries. It is expected that foreign capital will elevate host country's affordability. Nonetheless, this argument is very much one-way. Foreign capital is also expected to be able to exert negative consequences such as fuelling up domestic price (either stock market price, and/or real estate price) and failure to effectively transferring knowledge, skills and technologies, leading to unchanged or lower country's affordability level. Hence, this study aims at investigating the effect of foreign investment in real estate (FIRE) on host country's affordability. Using 30 emerging markets as a case for the period of 2000–2011, estimated by using fixed-effect model and complemented by 2-stage least square (2SLS) method, this study found that FIRE has a tendency to generate positive effect on countries' affordability. On the policy implication side, government can continue attracting foreign investment in real estate but it should be done cautiously as the effect is not elastic

Nexus between Islamic microfinancing and financial wellbeing of micro-entrepreneurs during the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia

Islamic microfinance is expanding and penetrating its potential market over the globe. Access to credit or financing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, is vital for micro-entrepreneurs in climbing the socio-economic ladder that will contemporaneously increase their household income. In Malaysia, most of the MEs can hardly access financing from formal financial institutions due to poor credit rating, having zero to little collateral, income instability, small loan amounts, and high transaction costs. Alternatively, MEs approach Islamic microfinance institutions for their financing solution. Therefore, this study intends to investigate how far the utilization of Islamic microfinancing by MEs could enhance their quality of life. One hundred seven (107) usable questionnaires were analysed via the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) AMOS using IBM® SPSS and found that both investment and expansion factors played key roles in affecting the financial wellbeing of the micro-entrepreneurs. The results lend credence to the positive effect of Islamic microfinance products may have on MEs and indirectly support the long-term economic development for MEs. This study deliver implication to various angles. In practical part, it opens the eyes of micro-entrepreneurs to opt for the right path (expansion and investment) to achieve financial wellbeing. Government (regulators) can enhance the ability of Islamic microfinancing as a tool towards financial wellbeing and in theoretical part, this study deepens the scope of Schumpeter’s theory by inculcate this theory with Islamic finance scope of study

The impact of macroeconomic factors on the house prices during liberalisation

The objective of the research is to investigate the impact of macroeconomic variables on the prices of different house types during liberalisation. This research examines the long term relationship between the respective house prices and the macroeconomic variables of interest rate, house supply, and the amount of loan approved. The methods used in this research are the Johansen Cointegration Test and VECM co-integration analysis based on Malaysian data over 1999-2012. The findings suggest that the prices of house were cointegrated regardless of the type. A higher degree of liberalisation has led to an increase of house prices. The impact, however was on the terrace, semi-detached, and high-rise houses, rather on the price of detached houses/bungalows. The policy makers may need to relook into the policy of opening up the property sector to foreigners, as the finding suggest that it has had an impact on potential local terrace buyers, who are largely low- and middle-income earners

Real Estate-Foreign Direct Investment-Growth in Malaysia: Re-Framing Eclectic Paradigm

Abstract

A Survey Analysis: The Current Real Estate Marketing Situation in the China Greater Bay Area in the Context of the COVID-19 Epidemic

Real estate in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (also known as the Greater Bay Area, GBA) - a good representation of China’s advanced and developed urban agglomeration - has received considerable attention from the international community in recent years. However, the real estate market has been under extraordinary stress due to the expansion of COVID-19 in China, the strain on people’s livelihoods brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, and the Chinese government’s series of epidemic preventive initiatives. This study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, making use of interviews and questionnaires as instruments. It examined China’s GBA real estate market as the pandemic looms. The primary goals are to demonstrate the current state of the GBA’s real estate industry, pinpoint the factors holding back its growth, and estimate when the market might finally experience a breakthrough. Our findings suggested that the impact of COVID-19 on the GBA real estate sector in China is evident, but that it still has a bright future despite the negative externalities. This is because the city has a large population, high purchasing power, and is close to some of the most developed areas in southern China. This study establishes a baseline for studying the impact of China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative on the GBA real estate market in the future. It also provides valuable resources for China’s GBA’s real estate industry