This adds to signs that the industry is rebounding even as a good number of completed units remain unsold, the association added.

Rehda reported today that 11,273 units of residential and commercial properties were sold in H1 2023 in a survey conducted among 148 members.

That figure resembles a 120% jump from H2 2022, and is on track to beat the 11,399 units sold in all of 2019.

“Still, a more sustained recovery isn’t visible,” according to Rehda president NK Tong.

“Developers are still struggling with challenges that are yet to be properly addressed such as material price hikes as well as high compliance and utilities cost,” he said at a briefing in Selangor today.

Unsold properties remain an issue, he said. About 53% of developers reported a sizeable number in the survey, with nearly a third of those units being on the market for more than three years.

Financing issues, high property prices, and locked up units reserved for the country’s majority Bumiputera group were cited by members as key reasons behind the unsold properties.

Earlier this year, deputy finance minister Ahmad Maslan said Malaysia had 22,746 units of unsold property worth RM18.41 billion as of December 2022.