Compared to the second half of 2022, residential launches in the first half of 2023 were down by 20.9%.
These statistics paint a rather bleak picture for the property market, especially the residential property segment, Napic’s H1 2023 property market report said.
However, sales performance for new launches recorded an increase of 32.2% compared to H1 2022 of 14.6% although it was lower compared to H2 2022’s 36.8%.
In the first half of 2023, 20.7% of new residential units were priced below RM300,000, 37.3% between RM300,001 and RM500,000, 34.3% between RM500,001 and RM1 million, and 7.7% above RM1 million.
Johor had the most residential launches (25.9% of the national total), with a sales performance of 34.5%. Selangor came next (18% share) with a sales performance of 38.6%, followed by Penang (9.9% share) with a sales performance of 64%.
With terrace homes dominating new launches, Napic said single-storey (3,489 units) and 2-3 storey homes (4,795 units) contributed 50.1% of the total units with a sales performance of 49.1%. This was followed by condominium/apartment units at 31% share (5,126 units) with a sales performance of 27.8%.
Napic, which sits under the valuation and property services department, said property market activity in the first half recorded more than 184,000 transactions worth RM85.37 billion. This is a 2.1% decrease in volume and 1.1% rise in value compared to the same period last year.
Overhang units decreases
On the overhang situation, Napic said a total of 26,286 overhang units worth RM18.30 billion was recorded in H1 2023, down by 5.3% and 0.6% in volume and value respectively against H2 2022.
“Most of the overhang is in Johor with 4,717 units worth RM4 billion. Likewise, the unsold under construction residential units saw a decrease of 4.9% to 54,844 units compared to H2 2022 (57,649 units),” it said.
On the same note, the serviced apartment sub-sector recorded 22,497 overhang units with a value of RM19.13 billion, a decrease of 6.2% and 5.2% in volume and value respectively against H2 2022.
“Johor recorded the highest overhang in the country with 59.4% (13,366 units), followed by Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, with 24.2% (5,450 units) and 12% (2,689 units) respectively,” it added.
Moving forward, Napic said the property market performance was “moderate” for H1 2023, despite a number of headwinds which has limited the sector’s growth potential.
“With the positive economic growth projection by Bank Negara Malaysia, expected between 4% to 5% in 2023, supported by various government initiatives and assistance, the property market performance is expected to remain cautiously optimistic,” it concluded.