As I've said, many are just "small time investors" who went in with their eyes closed, just following the herd, believing "its now or never" (sorry not that song) and believing in getting quick bucks very soon ( maybe was kindly advised by the sales people).
Small time investors will always wanting to sell higher than their buying price, ALWAYS! (cut loss is never in their vocab)
But I wonder how many sellers actually studied the market situation or listen to their agent when they put up an offer.
Also wonder how many realized that once you put up an offer and by certain time, you do not get offers or only got that few offers that demand hefty discount, you should know your price is out.
Usually after 6 to 9 months in the market, when you still don't get a reasonable offer, you should know very well your situation.
Its time to slash price and its not just 5, 10%!
Actually, I can understand these investors' mentality. Investing in Johor properties was very tempting when the Singapore market was shut in their faces back in 2013. It's not just in the old JB. Foreigners like Singaporeans were rushing in from the eastern to western parts of Iskandar to snap up properties, especially condos.
It didn't help that the cunning agents were like vultures waiting to swoop down on innocent buyers with cash to spend, telling them lies that they could rent out their Johor condos and make money, or there is capital appreciation in future. If such investors bothers to check the truths about Johor condos, and how bad the situation is, I think they might be shivering now or have sleepless nights.
There are also speakers with sweet tongues who will paint a beautiful picture about Iskandar in those Malaysian property talks. These talks are superficial "coffeeshop uncle" standard and never go deep enough to understand the underlying problems.
Yes, my observation is that small-time investors usually don't know how to cut losses. They stay on in a bad investment and give themselves hope that things will improve. This is waiting for bigger disaster to happen. More losses will be incurred.
It's the big time investors who dare to cut losses and put their money somewhere else that can give better growth. Peter Lim is one example. He initially wanted to build residential properties in Iskandar but backed off. Even one of Malaysia's largest developers, UEM Sunrise, ditched its huge Asian Trade Centre project in Nusajaya much to the shock of many. All these are strong signs to tell us how bad the problem is.
The prices of new Johor condos sold in 2013 are not justified and had been largely marked up by more than 50%. So I think sellers now need to slash prices by 50-60% before they may get 1 or 2 potential buyers. And that's only a MAYBE!