Primary market sales improved amid fewer new launches

PETALING JAYA (April 30): The cautious approach by developers to hold back new residential launches to focus on clearing unsold stock has resulted in improved sales at 40.4% in 2019, slightly better than 34.6% in 2018.

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According to the 2019 Property Market Report by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), the primary market saw 60,000 residential units launched last year, against 66,040 units in 2018.

Selangor recorded the highest number of new launches in the country last year, capturing nearly 17% (9,970 units) of the total launches nationwide.

Johor was next with 9,711 units or 16.2% share of new launches followed by Perak with 9,504 units (15.8%) and Kuala Lumpur with 8,865 units (14.8%).

Terraced houses dominated the new launches with single-storey terraced houses (10,690 units) and 2-3 storey terraced houses (18,809 units) together contributing 49% of the total new launched units, followed by condominium/ apartment units which contributed 36% (21,325 units) to the total.

“The decline [in new launches] was expected as developers were holding back due to the soft property market while trying to clear unsold stock carried forward from the projects launched in the previous years,” noted JPPH in the report which was released yesterday.

The slight improvement in sales could be attributed to the various incentives and assistance given by the government to promote home ownership last year.

Meanwhile, construction activities slowed as completion, new projects (labelled as starts) and new planned supply declined.

Completions were down by 6.2% to 87,731 units (as compared to 93,547 units in 2018) though Johor and Penang recorded more completions against 2018.

The construction of new projects also came down by 17.3% to 100,908 units in 2019, from 122,065 units in 2018.

Likewise, new planned supply dropped by 15.2% to 90,227 units, from 106,345 units in 2018. Nevertheless, Selangor, Johor and Penang recorded higher new planned supply figures, increasing by 0.5%, 2.8% and 15.0% respectively.

As at year-end 2019, there were 5.73 million existing residential units with nearly 0.45 million incoming supply and 0.44 million planned supply.

EdgeProp Malaysia will be hosting a virtual Fireside Chat titled "The Malaysian property market picked up in 2019! Could this be its last hurrah?" through Facebook Live on May 1 at 2pm.

Join us for more insights from Rehda president Datuk Soam Heng Choon, Rehda vice-president and Selangor branch chairman Zulkifly Garib and Rehda Johor branch chairman Datuk Steve Chong Yoon on the market outlook post-MCO!

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