Sales of new and secondary homes improved, market outlook remains resilient: Napic

KAJANG (Sept 23): Property market transactions for 1H2019 have rebounded for the first time since the market dipped in 1H2015, the improved sales performance also signaling a resilient market outlook, according to data from National Property Information Centre (Napic).

Based on the latest data which was unveiled today, property transaction in 1H2019 has surged 6.9% yoy to 160,172 transactions worth RM68.3 billion (increased 0.8% yoy), as compared to 149,862 properties valued at RM67.73 billion in 1H2018. 

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Overall, the property market performance recorded a marginal increase in 1H2019 as compared to 1H2018.

The Napic report stated that the Malaysian property market is expected to remain resilient in the coming haIf-year, underpinned by the strong GDP growth in the second quarter at 4.9% and several government-driven initiatives to further support the market activities in the housing sector.

Affordable housing and finding the right solutions to the property overhang continue to be the main agenda of the government.

The launch of the National Housing Policy 2.0 (2018 2025) and the incentives introduced in HOC 2019, which has been extended to Dec 31, 2019 are expected to help improve homeownership among Malaysians and the residential overhang situation in the coming half-year, said the report.

New launch growth slowed but sales improved

Meawhile, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Wira Amiruddin Hamzah said the primary market has seen 24,000 new launched residential properties in 1H2019, with 31% of the properties sold over the same period.

“While the number of new residential launches contracted by 49.4% as compared to 46,617 units in 1H2018, the sales performance was better compared to 1H2018 (20.1%) and 2H2018 (29.2%),” he told the media at the briefing for the property market 1H2019 and the launch of the Unsold Property Enquiry System Malaysia (UPESM) 2.0 held at the National Institute of Valuation (Inspen) today.

Notably, the data shows that Perak recorded the highest number of new launches in the country, capturing nearly 20% or 4,557 units of the total new launches in Malaysia.

Johor recorded the second highest number of new launches of 4,233 units, accounting for nearly 18% of the national total.

The other three major states namely Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor captured 13.6% or 3,216 units, 10.9% or 2,565 units and 10.1% or 2,387 units share respectively.

Secondary market sales and value increased

Of the secondary homes, there were 99,922 transactions worth RM34.65 billion recorded in 1H2019, an increase of 6.1% in volume and 9.5% in value.

Performance across the states improved in the review period, with all states recording higher market volume except for Labuan and Perak.

The uptrend in major states namely Kuala Lumpur (7.0%), Selangor (5.8%), Johor (1.2%) and Penang (0.5%) had led to the overall increase in the residential sub-sector, Napic's data revealed.

Meanwhile, the residential sub-sector overhang continued to increase but at a lower rate. There were 32,810 units worth RM19.76 billion in 1H2019, an increase in volume of 1.5% whilst the value decreased by 0.5% against the 32,313 units worth RM19.86 billion recorded in 2H2018.

House prices, on the other hand, continued to increase at a moderating trend. The Malaysian House Price Index (MHPI) stood at 194.8 points in 2Q2019, up by 0.9% on an annual basis. However, on a quarterly basis, the index points decreased marginally by 0.6% against 1Q2019.

The latest data shows that house prices are being well controlled, thanks to the initiatives and policies introduced by the government such as Home Ownership Campaign to ensure the prices remain at a reasonable level, said Amiruddin.

"The policies and measures that have been introduced give a sign to the industry players to carry out market corrections and adjustments, which then give an impact on the house prices on the whole," he added.