Home loan that fits your pocket
The AFFIN Home Step Fast/i, which offers borrowers the opportunity to own properties and build up their household finances at the same time, allows for a lower repayment commitment in the first five years.
The AFFIN Home Step Fast/i, which offers borrowers the opportunity to own properties and build up their household finances at the same time, allows for a lower repayment commitment in the first five years.
MIDF Research, however, thinks that the steady domestic demand and sticky core inflation that lingered above 3% — as opposed to the pre-pandemic average of 1.
Additionally, Low believed that the unchanged OPR is expected to help property developers with financing costs.
The research house’s view contradicts OCBC’s and UOB’s view that BNM will hold the OPR at 3% for the rest of the year, but aligns with MIDF Research's view that an increment will occur in the second half of the year.
Domestically, the central bank noted that following its strong outturn in the first quarter of the year, the local economy has since expanded at a more moderate pace as exports were weighed down by slower external demand in line with expectations.
BNM’s latest OPR decision follows the 25 basis point (bps) hike in May as it moved to further normalise monetary policy in line with resilient domestic growth prospects.
“Core inflation eased to a lesser extent compared to headline inflation but the direction implies that inflationary pressures are easing.
Napic, which is under the Ministry of Finance's valuation and property services department, said on Monday (May 15) that residential market activity in the first quarter of 2023 (1Q2023) already saw a decline, partly due to the gradual increase of OPR to 2.
According to Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB), banks, in particular Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd and Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (BIMB), are expected to benefit from the OPR hike as it would help alleviate some pressure off Net interest margins (NIM) in 2Q2023.
In a report on Thursday (May 4), BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, said that as inflation continues to moderate domestically, "we believe BNM will increasingly turn its focus to supporting growth over the coming months".