NAPIC said the country’s property overhang needed to be resolved and a holistic measure needs to be in place. — Bernama photo
BANGI: Property market activity in 2019 is expected to stabilise based on the increase in volume and value of total transactions as at end-2018, says the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) yesterday.
It said the industrial property sub-sector was expected to play a significant role in generating investments and employment opportunities as Malaysia embraces Industry 4.0 and the digital economy.
However, NAPIC said the country’s property overhang needed to be resolved and a holistic measure needs to be in place.
“Overhang does not mean over supplied. There are other contributing factors such as mismatch, affordability and cost of living.
“It is about finding the right location, right price, right type to cater for the right demand,” said the agency in a statement.
The statement was issued at the launch of NAPIC’s Malaysian Property Market 2018 report by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng yesterday.
The property market in 2018 gradually improved and recorded a marginal increase, recording 313,710 transactions worth RM140.33 billion, increasing 0.6 per cent and 0.3 per cent in volume and value, respectively, compared with 2017.
Residential property continued to support the overall property sector with a 62.9 per cent market share, followed by agriculture property (21.5 per cent).
“There were 197,385 residential property transactions worth RM68.75 billion recorded in 2018, increasing 1.4 per cent in volume and 0.4 per cent in value.
“New launches last year numbered 66,040 units, a 14.9 per cent contraction compared with 77,570 units in 2017,” NAPIC said.
Sales performance was moderate at 34.6 per cent across the board.
Last year, the residential overhang situation continued to increase to 32,313 units valued at RM19.86 billion, a 40.6 per cent increase in volume and 27.0 per cent in value against 24,738 units worth RM15. 64 billion in 2017.
House prices continued to a record steady increase and the Malaysian House Price Index stood at 193.3 points in 2018, up by 3.1 points against the preceding year.
Two major states moved in tandem, led by Johor and followed by Selangor, each seeing its house price increase by 5.6 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.
By residential type, the terrace house price index recorded the highest increase.
The commercial property sub-sector recorded a significant increase in market activity last year with 23,936 transactions valued at RM29.51 billion, increasing 8.0 per cent in volume and 16.0 per cent in value.
The retail sub-sector saw a decrease in average occupancy rate to 79.3 per cent from 81.3 per cent in 2017, due to negative take-up in several states, especially Selangor and Pahang.
“Shop sub-sector transactions dominated 54 per cent of commercial property transactions and 36.4 per cent of the total value.
“The sub-sector increased 5.1 per cent in volume and 11.5 per cent in value compared to 2017,” NAPIC added. — Bernama