Overhang residential units down 7% in 2023, affordable housing the largest category

• Value of overhang residential units also declined 4% to RM17.68 billion in 2023, from RM18.41 billion a year earlier.

KAJANG (March 6): The number of completed residential properties that remained unsold for nine months continued to decline in 2023, extending the improvement seen a year before.

According to the National Property Information Centre's (Napic) Property Market Report 2023, the number of overhang residential units fell 7% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 25,816 in 2023, versus 27,746 units in 2022.

Value of overhang residential units also declined 4% to RM17.68 billion in 2023, from RM18.41 billion a year earlier.

“The residential overhang shows encouraging momentum, as the numbers continued to decline as compared to 2022,” Napic said in a statement on Wednesday.

In 2022, the number of overhang residential units declined 24.7% y-o-y, compared with 36,863 units in 2021.

Last year, the residential overhang was led by units priced at RM300,000 or below at 29.4%, closely followed by RM500,001 to RM1 million (29.1%), then RM300,001 to RM500,000 (25.3%), and above RM1 million (16.2%).

Perak overtakes Johor

By state, Perak overtook Johor as the number of overhang residential units in the silver state spiked worryingly by 98.9% to 4,598 units in 2023, versus 2,312 units a year ago, while Johor’s fell 19.6% to 4,228 in 2023, from 5,258 previously.

Other states that Napic deemed to have a high number of overhang residential units were Kuala Lumpur with 3,535 units, and Selangor with 3,405 units.

The number rose 3.1% in Kuala Lumpur from 3,429 in 2022, while in Selangor, there was a decline of 7.9% from 3,698 units in 2022.

As for unsold incomplete residential units, comprising both those still under construction and yet to begin construction, a total of 59,058 units were recorded in 2023.

There were 51,132 unsold units still under construction in 2023, with the bulk of 45.4% or 23,231 units being those priced at RM300,000 or below — or in other words, in the affordable housing range.

Meanwhile, another 7,926 unsold units had yet to begin construction, likewise being led by units priced at RM300,000 or below at 38.3% or 3,039 units.

In 2023, new launches in the residential subsector stood at 56,526 units, 4.4% higher than the 54,118 units logged in 2022.

Of the total, 36,793 units were landed properties, while the other 19,733 were high-rise units.

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