“We expect the strong sales momentum to extend into 2023 with rising investment diversion from China on persisting US-China trade war,” it said in a note today.

Although industrial parks continue to be favoured by investors, the investment bank said developers have turned cautious and intend to slow down their property launches next year to avoid higher construction costs and potential delays in delivery.

“Also, developers are cautious on property demand as higher interest rates would hit buyers’ affordability,” it said, noting mortgage loan applications declined by 7% quarter-on-quarter and 15% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM33.5 billion in October.

For financial year 2023, Maybank IB expects the property sales targets to either be flat or marginally up y-o-y due to slower launches by developers as labour supply issues remain unresolved.

Overall, the investment bank has maintained its “neutral” call on the property sector next year, as external factors such as tightening monetary policy, supply chain disruptions and labour shortage issues are likely to linger into 2023 and continue to weigh on property stocks.