JPPH expects a soft year for property in 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian property market is expected to continue to be soft in 2018 with lower transactional volumes recorded in the first three quarters last year, according to Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) director general Nordin Daharom.
During the first nine months of 2017, volume transactions declined by 4.3% to 229,529 from 239,916 transactions recorded in the same period in 2016.
Speaking at the 11th Malaysian Property Summit 2018 (11MPS) today, Nordin said total unsold completed units, known as an “overhang”, stood at 20,304 during the period, compared with 14,792 at the end of 2016, noting most of them are high-rise residentials costing RM500,000 and above.
Additionally, he said Johor had the highest number of overhang units totalling 3,901, followed by Selangor and Kedah, with an overhang of 3,596 and 3,534 units, respectively.
“Why unsold situation occurs in certain states...it is either because of the price range, type of property or mismatch in location,” he said.