Process of home buying to change beyond recognition

The process of buying a home will change beyond recognition in the coming years and it will be a more streamlined transaction, with buyers and sellers having greater control and relying much more on technology.

HSBC Bank Malaysia Country Head, Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Lim Eng Seong said the speed at which the digital revolution in home buying rolled out around the world would depend on local regulatory environments and people's willingness to trust technology for such an enormous buy.

"The traditional role of estate agents will be reinvented as nowadays there are many online platforms where homeowners can market their own properties and negotiate directly with the sellers," he said.

HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd, in its new Beyond the Bricks home buying report, The future of home buying, said new technologies were transforming the way people were buying a home in Malaysia and globally.

It said the report combined the results of over 9,000 people in nine countries and in Malaysia, the views of 1,000 people were obtained.

The bank said based on the report, currently, UK was leading with the most number of digitally-active home hunters with 93% of them using online channels (website, mobile, emails) to research their recent property purchase.

"Malaysia is ranked sixth among the nine countries surveyed, with 81% of digitally-active home hunters," it said.

On the financing options, it said, Malaysia was ranked among the top three in the nine countries surveyed, with 77% of the home buyers going online to do this compared to the global average of 74%.

(Source: Malay Mail)