Malaysian property market: Wake up and smell the coffee

Lower prices: A file picture showing an aerial view of Mont’Kiara where the majority of Klang Valley’s high-rise residentials are located. Prices of high-rise homes declined by 1.2% last year.

Much has been commented about the housing market overhang as well as oversupply the past week, mostly coming from the recently released Property Market Report 2018 by National Property Information Center (Napic).

This week’s article is more about revealing what was not widely reported and some commentary on the state of the Malaysian property market. Based on Napic data, despite the perceived glut faced by the market, the overall Malaysian House Price Index continued to climb in 2018, rising by 3.1% y-o-y to 193.3 pts and on average, a home in Malaysia now cost RM416,993 compared with RM404,643 a year ago. Key driver of price growth in 2018 was from terrace homes sub-segment, which rose by 6.4% y-o-y to RM387,474 while high-rise and detached homes declined by 1.2% and 1.8% y-o-y respectively. Semi detached homes too saw a rise in price, rising by 2% y-o-y. However, measured based on median prices, house prices in actual fact fell by 2% to 296,944 from RM303,000 in 2017.