Napic: Significant growth in property market in 1H21

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia's property market recorded 139,754 transactions worth RM62.01 billion in the first half of 2021 (H1), an increase of 21 per cent in volume and 32.1 per cent in value compared to the same period last year.

According to the Malaysia Property Market Report First Half Year 2021, released by the Ministry oF Finance’s National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) today, the volume of transactions across the sub-sectors showed upward movement.

The residential, commercial, industrial, agriculture and development land sub-sectors recorded year-on-year growths of 22.2 per cent, 28.5 per cent, 29.4 per cent, 13.9 per cent and 21.3 per cent respectively, it said.

It said the value of transactions moved in tandem with residential, commercial, industrial, agriculture and development land sub-sectors, recording growths of 34.7 per cent, 28.4 per cent, 19.8 per cent, 33.1 per cent and 40.6 per cent respectively.

On residential property, the report said there were 92,017 transactions worth RM34.51 billion recorded in the review period, a hike of 22.2 per cent in volume and 34.7 per cent in value year-on-year.

The report said performance across the states improved in the review period.

In the primary market, the report said there were 16,660 units launched, down by 34 per cent against 25,227 units in H1 of 2020 while against H2 of 2020, the new launches were lower by 24.1 per cent with 21,951 units launched.

The report said the sales performance for new launches was better at 24.7 per cent, compared to 12.9 per cent in H1 of 2020.

"The improvement in sales performance probably attributed to various measures by the government such as incentives of the Home Ownership Campaign and low OPR (overnight policy rate)," it said.

It said the residential overhang exhibited a moderate growth with a total of 31,112 overhang units worth RM20.09 billion, an increase of 5.2 per cent and 6.2 per cent in volume and value respectively against the preceding half.

The report said the Malaysian House Price Index (MHPI) saw unprecedented negative growth in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021 after a series of slow price growth since 2018.

The MHPI stood at 197.9 points, down by 1.2 per cent year-on-year while quarterly movements saw a decline of 1.6 per cent, it said.

For commercial property, the report said there were 10,433 transactions worth RM10.93 billion, up by 28.5 per cent in volume and 28.4 per cent in value compared to the same period last year.

All states recorded more market activity in the review period except for Putrajaya and Pahang, while Selangor contributed the highest volume and value to the national market share, with 26.3 per cent in volume or 2,741 transactions, and 30.8 per cent in value or RM3.37 billion, it said.

The performance of the shopping complex moderated in the first half, with the national occupancy rate seeing a slight decline of 76.6 per cent compared to 78.6 per cent in H1 of last year.

Kuala Lumpur and Selangor recorded 81.6 per cent and 78.8 per cent occupancy rates respectively, while Johor and Penang managed to secure an average occupancy of 73.4 per cent and 72.2 per cent respectively, it said.

The sole completion recorded in H1 2021 was contributed by the extension of Setia City Mall in Shah Alam with 21,363 square metres, bringing the total space for shopping complex nationwide to 16.93 million square metres.

There were another 47 complexes totalling 1.94 million square metres in incoming supply and another 10 complexes with 0.34 million square metres in planned supply, it said.

"Supported by the implementation of various government initiatives and assistance, the property market is expected to be on the recovery path in line with the gradual economic recovery," the report said. - Bernama