The latest report from the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) revealed that Malaysia has 34,532 unsold completed residential properties worth RM22.26 billion in Q1 2018, reported The Star.
The figure, which included serviced apartments and small office, home offices (SoHos), represents a 55.72 percent increase from the 22,175 unsold units registered in Q1 2017.
Excluding serviced apartments and SoHos, about a third of all housing units in their respective price segments were unsold.
Majority of the units launched were priced between RM500,000 and RM1 million, of which a third were unsold. Meanwhile, 33 percent of those priced between RM300,000 and RM400,000 were also left unsold.
The number of serviced apartments and SoHos stood at around 48,000 in Q1 2018. Of these, around 25,000 are located in Johor alone.
While no serviced apartments and SoHos were found in Kedah and the east coast states, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu posted the biggest number of unsold residential units at 48.20 percent, 48.08 percent and 44.20 percent, respectively.
The states with the biggest number of serviced apartments and SoHos – namely, Johor, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur – have unsold stock of 29.12 percent, 17.86 percent and 13.53 percent, respectively.
Datuk Siders Sittampalam, Managing Director at PPC International, attributed the overhang in Malaysia to two factors – less-than-ideal locations and unaffordable property prices.
“You can’t say there is no demand, because there is latent demand. But one reason for the overhang is because prices of these units are just too high.”
According to him, Bank Negara’s various cooling measures made it hard for potential homebuyers to obtain housing loans. “Unless the financing regime changes, this (the overhang situation) will continue.”
Aside from the high home prices, Siders believe that some properties remain unsold due to poor or limited accessibility.
“Some properties may be built in less-than-ideal locations – they may be too far away to live in or may not have the suitable amenities like proper public transport,” he said.
“We can talk of economic factors improving but nothing will change unless these two (affordability and accessibility) factors improve.”
Meanwhile, Sarkunan Subramaniam, Managing Director at Knight Frank Malaysia, feels that while the country’s overhang situation is high, it has not yet reached an alarming level.
“Alarming is when you see abandoned projects or developers going bust. So, the situation is not alarming – but affirmative action needs to be taken,” he said.
Image sourced from Star Online
This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my
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