PROPERTY SNAPSHOT 1: Kuching, a buyer's market

• This week’s spotlight falls on the secondary market for non-landed residences in Kuching, Sarawak. The area under review spans Bandar Baru Semariang in North Kuching to the Kuching International Airport in South Kuching. The educational hub of Kota Samarahan is excluded.
   
• Based on TheEdgeProperty.com’s analysis of transactions, the average transacted price of non-landed properties in the district grew exponentially in the first half of 2013 to hit a peak of RM221 psf in 3Q2013, before retreating to RM193 psf in 1Q2015. While this represents a 10.8% y-o-y increase on RM175 psf in 1Q2014, it is 12.7% lower than the peak of 3Q2013.
   
• Total transaction volume for the 12 months to 1Q2015 fell 13.9% y-o-y from 512 units to 441 units. The soft property market follows a period of strong price appreciation in recent years. Despite the slowdown in the overall market, the high-rise segment has performed relatively well. Strata units are becoming increasingly viable due to the scarcity of land and the high prices of landed properties.
   
• On-going high-rise projects include Borneo Semariang Resort City, D’Ryx Residences, D’Belle Residences, The Royalle Condominium, The Ryegates III and Tropics City. According to the C H Williams Talhar & Wong Property Market Report 2016, some 6,500 units are in the pipeline.
   
• The Kuching property market has many new developments, but future demand and prices could take their cue from oil and commodity prices, which have been volatile. The Kuching Waterfront Extension initiative is slowly taking shape and work on the 2,239km Pan Borneo Highway linking the cities and towns of Sabah and Sarawak is expected to commence in 2016.

Yes, we have high rises.

The Analytics are based on the data available at the date of publication and may be subject to  revision as and when more data becomes available.