Residential property led market last year

PETALING JAYA: The residential property sub-sector dominated the overall property market in 2010, capturing 60.2% of total volume and 47.1% of the value of transactions, according to the National Property Information Centre’s (Napic) property market report 2010.

The year saw 226,874 residential property transactions worth RM50.65bil, with volume and value recording 7.2% and 21% increases respectively compared with 2009.

In terms of pricing, the Malaysian All House Price Index surged by 8.9 points to 140.7 points against 131.8 points registered in 2009.

“Correspondingly, the price of the ‘average house’ moved to RM199,636 from RM184,574 in the fourth quarter of 2009,” said Napic.

Kuala Lumpur had the highest price level in the country at RM430,163. Selangor and Sarawak followed with RM301,443 and RM253.391 respectively.

Affordable houses below RM150,000 remained in demand, evident from the 57.1% representation of total residential transactions, said Napic, adding that houses within the price range of RM100,000 to RM150,000 formed the largest portion, accounting for 17.3% (39,360 transactions) of the total.

Units priced between RM250,000 and RM500,000 were the second most active price bracket, accounting for 14.9% (33,739 transactions).

For high-end housing units priced above RM500,000, there were 16,782 transactions from 12,122 transactions in 2009. Selangor accounted for 7,726 transactions, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 4,996 transactions.

Terraced units formed 56.1% (26,774 units) of newly launched houses, comprising 12,429 single-storey terraces and 14,345 units of two- to three-storey terraces. Condominium and apartment units made up 14.2% (6,793 units) of total launches.

Residential overhang increased marginally to 23,133 units in 2010 from 22,592 units a year earlier. Value rose to RM4.21bil from RM3.68bil previously, partly attributed to the increased number of launches in 2010.

By price range, most of the overhang units were priced below RM150,000.

Construction activity in the residential sub-sector showed cautious behaviour from developers. The review period witnessed 95,938 completions compared with 103,335 units registered in 2009.

Housing units that began construction decreased marginally by 2.9% to 84,210 (from 86,743 units in 2009). New planned supply reduced by 5% to 76,306 units from 80,283 units in 2009.

Shop sub-sector

This sub-sector remained the most dominant contributor to commercial property activities, accounting for 62.1% of total volume. The review period recorded 24,731 shop transactions worth RM12.32bil, said Napic.

The volume and value of transactions increased by 11.9% and 31% respectively compared with 2009 (22,107 transactions worth RM9.41bil).

As at year-end, overhangs increased to 5,550 units (2009: 5,265 units) but lower value (RM1.67bil in 2010 compared with RM1.82bil in 2009).

“The unsold under construction and not constructed units increased to 4,803 and 1,224 units respectively from 4,685 and 1,072 units respectively in 2009.

On the supply front, construction activity in the shop-sub sector recorded mixed performance.

“There were 7,721 units that completed construction under the review period and this accounted for a 14.4% decrease (2009: 9,025 units).

“On a positive note, starts and new planned supply registered 39.7% and 11.5% increases to 7,823 and 7,924 units respectively,” said Napic.

Shopping complex sub-sector

The retail market continued to record substantial amount of take-up at 268,027 sq m (2009: 269,504 sq m).

With the exception of Kedah (-11,545 sq m) and Pahang (-11,349 sq m), all other states registered positive take up.

Malacca had the highest take-up space of 92,880 sq m, followed by Selangor and Johor with 48,916 sq m and 34, 977 sq m respectively.

The national occupancy rate reduced marginally to 80.2% in 2010 from 81.5% a year earlier. As at year-end 2010, the country had nearly 2.09 million sq m of space available for occupation.

The future supply was ample with 94 complexes (1.73 million sq m) in the incoming supply and another 65 complexes (1.65 million sq m) in the planned supply.

By The Star