Property transaction value up 22.6% y-o-y to RM57.15b in 3Q — report

• JPPH director general Abdul Razak Yusak said the residential sub-sector continued to support the overall property market, accounting for 62.9% of total transactions, or 68,561 in volume, valued at RM28.36 billion.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 15): The value of real estate market transactions jumped 22.6% to RM57.15 billion in the third quarter of 2023 (3Q2023) compared to the same quarter last year, due to an increase in the transfer of ownership of “major sales” in the country, according to the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH).

Transaction volume increased marginally by 3.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 108,955 in 3Q2023.

JPPH director general Abdul Razak Yusak said the residential sub-sector continued to support the overall property market, accounting for 62.9% of total transactions, or 68,561 in volume, valued at RM28.36 billion.

“This was followed by the agricultural sub-sector, which accounted for 18.5% of total transactions, and the combination of the trade sub-sector and other sub-sectors, which accounted for 18.6%,” he said at the online launch of JPPH open transaction data and release of the 3Q real estate market report on Wednesday.

He said terraced housing accounted for 29,755 transactions, or 43.4% of total residential transactions.

Abdul Razak said housing priced at RM300,000 and below per unit continued to dominate market activities, with 52.4% share (35,948 transactions), followed by those priced from RM300,001 to RM500,000, with 24.7% share (16,947 transactions), while the rest were units priced from RM500,001 and above, with 22.9% share (15,666 transactions).

He said new residential launches in 3Q2023 saw a rise of almost 6,900 units, versus 4,797 units in 2Q2023, while sales of new launches increased to 37.6%, versus 24.7% in the previous quarter.

New launches of RM300,000 and below dominated, with over 70% share (5,075 units), with a better sales performance of 44.1%, followed by RM300,001 to RM500,000, with 11.8% share (813 units), and RM500,001 and above, with 14.4% share (993 units).

Among the states, Selangor recorded the highest number of new launches at 2,491 units, or 36.2% of nationwide launches, with an improved sales performance of 69.1%.

On the overhang or unsold completed houses, Abdul Razak said the situation had improved, with a 3.7% drop in terms of volume (25,311 units), or a 4.9% reduction in value (RM17.40 billion), as compared to the previous quarter.

“Almost 62.2% of the residential overhang comprised condominium or apartment units, and nearly 55% of the residential overhang [comprised units] priced at RM500,000 and below,” he said.

He said there were more than 22,000 completed but unsold serviced apartment units valued at RM18.24 billion in 3Q2023, a drop in volume and value of 1.5% and 4.7% respectively, as compared to the previous quarter.

Of the total overhang, 61.2% cost RM500,000 and above, with most of them in Johor.

Meanwhile, Abdul Razak said housing prices in Malaysia had stabilised with minimal increases.

He said the Malaysian House Price Index stood at 212.6 points (RM458,751 per unit), with a small annual growth rate of 0.1% in 3Q2023.

“All states experienced moderate growth of between 0.1% and 4.0%, except for Selangor, Pahang, Kelantan and Sarawak, which showed a decrease of between 0.7% and 1.6%,” he said.

He said terraced houses continued to see stable growth, with a small 0.8% rise, while other residential types saw a minimal fall in prices.

Abdul Razak said private custom-built offices saw a rise in occupancy to 72.7%, up by less than 1% as compared to 2Q2023, while unoccupied office space remained high at 5.02 million square metres.

The implementation of the open transaction data, which encompasses 12 attributes of property transaction data and can be accessed via the National Property Information Centre's (Napic) portal, is in line with the public-sector open data government initiative.

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