The Malaysian property market was active in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24), recording a 34.3% growth compared to the first quarter a year ago, with more than 104,297 transactions worth RM56.53bil, a 34.3% jump in transaction value.

Valuation and Property Services Department director-general Abdul Razak Yusak said in terms of volume, property sub-sectors recorded positive growth in 1Q24; 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 RM25bil, 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 1Q24 Real Estate Market Report in a live broadcast on Facebook yesterday.

According to Abdul Razak, construction activities also showed positive growth in 1Q24 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 1Q23. 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% 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, Melaka, 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 RM16.49bil compared with 25,816 units worth RM17.68bil in 4Q23. Serviced apartment overhang rose by 5.2% to 21,913 units, with a 9.7% rise in ringgit value to RM18.16bil.

“Serviced apartment units priced between RM500,000 and RM1mil make up 58.1% of the total overhang,” he said.

Source: Bernama