Number of overhang and unsold homes may come down in the next few months

According to Napic’s data, as at September 2016, overhang and unsold properties under construction have increased to 14,193 and 58,300 from 8,841 and 47,429 units respectively, while new launches have decreased to 23,112 units from 53,357 units recorded during the same period last year. In other words, the gap between overhang/unsold units and new launches has narrowed compared with the same period last year.

“Having fewer new property launches is good for the market now because it enables the market to absorb the existing stock in the market, hence we will not see the overhang and unsold numbers increase significantly, or to be optimistic, there are chances that the numbers may decrease gradually in the next few months,” said Aina during her “Property Market Performance Review” at ‘The Malaysian Property Market: Opportunities amidst uncertainties” seminar organised by Rahim & Co today.

She said the market is self-adjusting and recovering from the slowdown.

“Rather than predict what the property market trend and direction is, allow the market to self-adjust and do its own correction. For developers, it is good for them to hold back launches and re-plan their launches more carefully to avoid more unsold and overhang units,” she said.

Aina does not see the market bouncing back over the next few months.

“Looking at the data of the past nine months, we don’t see signs of the property market bouncing back although it may be stimulated in the short term when new policies and measures are introduced to the market,” Aina noted.

“The property market reacts to new monetary policies and government interventions very fast, and we do see many new measures being imposed to help those in need to get homes. However, we never really know which measure actually boosts the market the most,” she said.