With the property overhang hitting an all-time high of 30,115 units as at the third quarter of 2018, Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) director Ahmad Zailan Azizuddin believes the issue could only be solved if stakeholders from the public and private sector help each other, reported The Edge.
“How can we all play a part to address this issue? For example, the National Property Information Centre has launched the Unsold Property Enquiry System Malaysia (UPESM) to provide information on the current status of unsold properties in each district in Malaysia,” he said at the 12th Malaysian Property Summit on the Property Market Outlook for 2019.
“Thus, developers can check the status of unsold properties on the system before launching a project. The government has also taken steps to overcome this issue by organising a Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) 2019 to tackle the high number of unsold properties running for six months from March 1.”
He noted that the property overhang in Malaysia is caused by various issues such as the rising cost of living, affordability and mismatch in pricing. This means that properties with the right price at the right place are needed to cater the housing needs of people within a particular area.
“The government is also aware of homeownership issues which is why they have taken steps to enhance RUMAWIP to Residensi Wilayah with several improvements in place. We also feel there is a need for a special committee to monitor the cost of development to keep prices affordable especially for the M40 and B40 income group,” he added.
Ahmad Zailan expects the property market to stabilise this year, on the back of improving household and market sentiments as well as the marginal hike in the value and volume of property transactions from 2017 to 2018.
Property transaction values rose 0.4 percent to RM140 million last year from RM139 million in 2017, while transaction volume climbed 0.6 percent to 313,844 units from 311,824 units.
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