The report reveals that although the property sector may see moderation in market activity, the slowdown would still be manageable.
According to the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) in its “Property Market Report 2015” the overall property market slowed down by a marginal 5.7% to 362,105 transactions from 384,060 transactions and value down by 8% to RM149.9 billion from RM162.97 billion, against 2014. Residential subsector continued to lead the overall market, with 65.2% contribution in volume and 49.0% in value.
Market volume recorded at 362,105 transactions worth RM149.9 billion in 2015, down by a marginal ·5.7% in volume and 8.0% in value against 2014. Residential sub-sector continued to lead the overall market, with 65.2% contribution in volume and 49.0% in value. The sub-sector recorded a slight downturn by 4.6% in volume and correspondingly down in value by 10.5%. The commercial, industrial, agriculture and development land sub-sectors were also on moderating path, down by 10.6%, 13.0%, 7.5% and 2.4% respectively.
RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY
There were 235,967 transactions worth RM73.47 billion recorded in the review period, declined by 4.6% in volume and 10.5% in value. Performance by states was generally on a low tone. Major states namely Johor and Pulau Pinang recorded mark declines in market activity, down by 20.4% and 16.9% respectively whilst Kuala Lumpur and Selangor recorded moderate declines of 8.3% and 5.1 % respectively.
In line with market softening and bleak households’ sentiment, the primary market reacted accordingly as the number of new launches reduced to 70,273 units, down by 19.2% against 2014 (86,997 units). Most states particularly the major ones namely Johor and Pulau Pinang saw substantial declines in their new launches, each down by 42.8% (9,428 units) and 47.5% (2,348 units), The overall sales performance for the country hovered at 41.4% (29,089 units sold), lower than 45.4% (39,491 units sold) performance in 2014.
The residential overhang situation took a downturn as more units were recorded. There were 11,316 overhang units worth RM5.9 billion, up by 16.3% in volume and 56.0% in value. Johor which held 21.9% of the national overhang, saw its overhang increased to 2,483 units, up by 8.5% due to higher unsold in terrace and service apartment types. On similar trend, the unsold under construction recorded an increase of 28.6% to 68,760 units due to large numbers of unsold condominium and service apartment units. The fewer number of new launches partly helped contain the unsold not constructed, down by 20.5% to 10,704 units.
Construction activities were generally on a low tone with the exception of starts. Completions were down by 25.0% (80,850 units) whereas starts recorded a 10.3% increase (188,757 units) over 2014, as higher numbers of service apartments in Johor Bahru (20,914 units) and Kuala Lumpur (13,197 units) commenced construction. On the contrary, new planned supply was on a four-year low at 139,189 units, down by 31.8%. As at end-2015, there were 4.93 million existing residential units with nearly 0.89 million in the incoming supply and 0.64 million in the planned supply.
The Malaysian House Price Index sustained its moderating trend. As at 042015, the Malaysian All House Price Index stood at 227.5 points (at base year 2000), up by 5.8% on annual basis. The annual rate of increase for MHPI has been on a decelerating trend since 04 2013, resulting from the various cooling measures to contain the spiralling prices. On quarterly movements, the index points contracted by 0.8% against 03 2015.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
There were 31,776 transactions worth RM26.4 billion recorded, down by 10.6% in volume and 17.1 % in value. Major states recorded lacklustre performance with Johor recording the highest decrease of 21.9%, followed by WPKL at 15.0%, Selangor at 11.1 % and Pulau Pinang at 10.7%. In terms of transactions value, only Pulau Pinang held strong with an increase of 19.0% despite fallen market activity whilst the other major states succumbed to double-digit declines.
