More uncertainties expected in Malaysia's property market

Chua: New launches are expected to slow down and issues of housing affordability will continue to top the national agenda.

PUTRAJAYA: The residential property sub-sector is expected to experience further softening in 2016 in view of the various internal and external uncertainties, while issues on affordable housing and affordability of home purchasers will continue to top the national agenda this year, according to Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong. 

In conjunction with the launch of 2015 Property Market Report by the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) on Tuesday, he said the commercial sub-sector is anticipated to moderate, while the office market is expected to plateau in 2016. 

"New launches are expected to slow down and issues of housing affordability will continue to top the national agenda," said Chua in his speech. 

In a statement, the Valuation & Property Services Department said the retail sub-sector is likely to moderate as cautious sentiment on consumers' spending lingers at the onset of increasing costs of living. 

"The performance of hypermarkets looks more positive due to the nature of goods sold in these premises, namely necessity goods."

Meanwhile, according to NAPIC, market volume recorded 362,105 transactions worth RM149.9bil in 2015, down 5.7% in volume and 8% in value against 2014. 

The sub-sector recorded a slight downturn by 4.6% in volume and correspondingly down in value by 10.5%. 

The commercial, industrial, agriculture and development land sub-sectors were all down 10.6%, 13%, 7.5% and 2.4% respectively.