This was a 29.5% increase in volume and 23.6% rise in value compared with the previous year, according to the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH).
The improvement in sales was driven largely by the residential segment, which accounted for 243,190 transactions, or 62.5% of the total. These were valued at RM94.28 billion.
This was a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 22.3% in sales volume and 22.6% in value.
Penang recorded the highest increase in transactions at 31.1%, followed by Johor (24.3%), Perak (18.9%), Kuala Lumpur (18.4%) and Selangor (15.9%).
Deputy finance minister II Steven Sim said the primary market segment saw more than 54,000 new residential units launched in 2022 compared with 43,860 units in 2021.
With the sale of new units moderating to 36% from 39.3% in 2021, new launches were confined mostly to Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor, Sim said.
Condominiums and apartment units accounted for 45% (24,366 units) of the new launches, followed by terraced homes (42.2%), comprising 9,422 single storey and 13,403 two-to-three storey units.
Selangor recorded the highest number of new launches with 11,176 units (20.7% of the total) with sales volume of 26.9%. Kuala Lumpur was next with 10,324 units (19.1%) but was ahead in sales performance at 47.2%.
Johor came next with 7,718 (14.3%) new units and sales performance of 42.6%.
The commercial segment recorded 32,809 transactions worth RM32.61 billion in 2022, an increase of 46.3% in volume and 16.7% in value y-o-y.
Shoplots accounted for half of all transactions (16,862 transactions valued at RM14.2 billion), mostly in Selangor and Johor at 19% and 17.1% respectively.
Occupancy rates in commercial units down
Overall, malls continued to see a drop in new occupancy, declining from 76.3% in 2021 to 75.4% in 2022 in Kuala Lumpur. Selangor also saw a decline – from 82.7% to 77.5%.
The lowest occupancy rates were recorded in Johor (68.8%), Penang (72.6%), Negeri Sembilan (66.6%) and Melaka (61.2%).
Purpose-built offices also recorded lower occupancy – down from 78.9% in 2021 to 78.5% in 2022, while for private offices, it was down from 72.3% to 72.1%.
Penang saw the highest occupancy rate in this segment at 80.9%, followed by Kuala Lumpur, (72.1%), Selangor (67.3%) and Johor (59.1%).
Putrajaya recorded the lowest occupancy rate in the country at 49.4%.
Overhang situation improves
Sim said the number of unsold units dropped to 27,746 worth RM18.41 billion as of the last quarter of 2022. This was a 24.7% drop in volume and 19.2% drop in profits compared with the previous period.
Johor had the largest overhang volume with 5,285 units worth RM4.33 billion, followed by Selangor (3,698 units; RM3.36 billion), Penang (3,593 units; RM2.74 billion), and Kuala Lumpur (3,429 units; RM3.15 billion).
“Almost 62% of the residential overhang consists of condominiums and apartments, with almost half of them priced above RM500,000, and 23.5% priced at RM300,000 and below,” Sim said.
Growth in house prices still low
The Malaysia House Price Index (MHPI) stood at 208.4 points in 2022, with an annual growth rate of 2.8%, according to the National Property Information Centre (Napic).
Terraced houses, high-rises and semi-detached houses continued to see price increases of 2.8% to 3.7% but detached houses saw a decline of 2.9% in their price index.
Prices were up 2.2% to 3.4% in Selangor, Johor and Penang but down 0.2% in Kuala Lumpur.
Napic expects the performance of the property market to improve in line with a moderate economic growth projected for 2023.
Sim said the country’s real estate sector is expected to continue its recovery in line with economic growth.
He said the initiatives under Budget 2023 and accommodative policies under the 12th Malaysia Plan would support growth in the real estate market.