KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian property market was active in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1’24) with more than 104,297 transactions worth RM56.53 billion, a 34.3% jump in value compared with the first quarter a year ago.
Valuation and Property Services Department director-general Abdul Razak Yusak said in terms of volume, property sub-sectors recorded positive growth in Q1’24; the commercial sub-sector grew by 33.4%, residential by 16.6%, industry by 14.3%, agriculture by 13.7%, and development land and others, 10.7%.
“The residential sub-sector continues to dominate market activities with over 62,000 transactions, valued at over RM25 billion, comprising nearly 60% of overall property market activities.
“Housing priced at RM300,000 and below dominate the market with 33,500 transactions, comprising more than 50% of total transactions,“ he said when presenting the First Quarter 2024 Real Estate Market Report in a live broadcast on Facebook torday.
According to Abdul Razak, construction activities also showed positive growth in Q1’24 when commencements rose to more than 21,300 units, an increase of almost 8% from the previous year, while planned new developments decreased to around 11,000 units.
New residential launches increased by 19.8% to 5,585 units from 4,661 units in Q1’23.
The serviced apartment segment saw a 70% spike in completed units to 5,500. Projects starting construction and planned new developments each rose by more than 100 per cent versus the same quarter in 2023.
The Malaysian House Price Index rose marginally by 0.5% to 216.9 points, with house prices averaging RM468,000 a unit, Abdul Razak said.
“All states recorded moderate growth of between 0.5 and 4.6%, except for Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Perak, Malacca and Sarawak where prices contracted by between 0.2 and 2%.
“Terraced housing remained stable with a positive 1.8% growth while other types of housing recorded a marginal decrease,“ he said.
Completed unsold housing, commonly known as a residential overhang, decreased to 24,208 units worth RM16.49 billion compared with 25,816 units worth RM17.68 billion in Q4’23.
Serviced apartment overhang rose by 5.2% to 21,913 units, with a 9.7% rise in ringgit value to RM18.16 billion.
“Serviced apartment units priced between RM500,000 and RM1 million make up 58.1% of the total overhang,” he said.
The performance of private purpose-built offices recorded a marginal increase, he said. “The occupancy rate of privately owned purpose-built offices rose marginally to 72% versus 71.9% in the previous quarter,“ he said. – Bernama
