Malaysia’s property market rebounds
The notable increase in the number and value of property transactions in the first half indicated a buoyant property market, Kashif added.
He said he growth in the real estate market was driven by the strong economy, government housing initiatives, and progress on infrastructure and trade.
All of these factors lead to faster growth in gross domestic product (GDP), employment and household income for Malaysians.
“We think all these factors are likely to persist in the second half of the year and that the next Napic report will show further real estate price increases, gains in transaction numbers, and declines in residential overhang,” he added.
According to Napic’ data, residential subsector continued to contribute the largest share of property transactions in 1H2024 with more than a fifth of transactions happening in Selangor.
The residential market activity saw a marginal increase of 6.1 per cent in volume with a total of 121,964 transactions worth RM49.43 billion, up 10.4 per cent from 1H2023.
Selangor contributed the highest volume and value to the national market share, capturing 22.3 per cent in volume (27,174 transactions) and 30.6 per cent in value (RM15.15 billion)
Meanwhie, residential overhang declined as the volume and value dropped by 12.3 per cent and 19.5 per cent with a total of 22,642 overhang units worth RM14.24 billion during the first half.
Perak had the most number of unsold properties amounted to 4,161 units followed by Johor (3,219 units), Kuala Lumpur (3,051 units), Penang (2,400 units) and Selangor (2,328 units).
On the demand side, the total of loan applications and approvals for residential purchase in 1H2024 saw a slight increase of 1.6 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.
During the period, loan applications worth RM225 billion were made while loan approvals stood at RM94 billion.
Kashif noted that affordable homes cost less than RM300,000 was again the best selling and accounted for more than half of all transactions in 1H2024.
Conversely, most expensive housing sold the fewest units, with property worth more than RM1 million accounting for about 8.0 per cent of all transactions.
“Nearly 6,000 more Malaysians purchased an affordable home in 1H2024 than in the same period of 2023. That demonstrates increasing confidence and access to affordable homes,” he said.
On new supply of homes, he said the states with the hottest activity were Johor, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Perak, where all had among the highest numbers of newly launched homes in the first half.
“Johor led with more than 5,000 new launches, followed by Selangor with more than 3,800, Kuala Lumpur with more than 2,600, and Perak with more than 2,600,” Kashif added.
