Govt launches unsold property enquiry system

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Property Information Centre (Napic) has launched an Unsold Property Enquiry System Malaysia (UPESM) to provide information to market players like developers, local authorities, buyers and other interested parties.

Napic director Md Badrul Hisham Awang said on Thursday the system was developed last year and launched in April 2018.

"The system shows the type of overhang properties, location and type. We want developers, local authorities and investors to know the information in detail," he said.

The service is free but is limited to 2016 and 2017 because of the high level of overhang. 

Completed-but-unsold residential units ballooned to RM12.26bil for the first half of 2017 from about RM8.56bil for the same period in 2016  (2015: RM4.92bil).

Known as an “overhang”, total unsold completed units stood at 20,876 in 2017, compared with 14,792 at the end of 2016, most of them high-rise residentials costing RM500,000 and above.

Napic's overhang figure  is lower than  Bank Negara's figure of more than 140,000 units because it includes serviced apartments and launched units but unsold after a certain period.

Napic excludes serviced apartments because these are built on commercial land titles. NAPIC also includes units as overhang only after the unit is ready for occupation but unsold.

The total number of residential overhang for 2017 totalled 24,738 units valued RM15.6bil with 38.4% comprising high rise units. 

In terms of price, 22.7% of the overhang units according to Napic are between RM500,000 and RM1mil.