KAJANG, April 18 — The property market continued to soften last year after the total transactions in volume and value decreased to 320,000 and RM145 billion, a government report revealed today.
The Property Market Report 2016 by the Valuation Property and Services Department (JPPH) pointed that this was a decline of 11.5 per cent in volume and 3 per cent in value against 2015.
A statement by the department said the number of new launches also reduced to 53,000 from 58,000 units in 2015.
“Residential sub-sector continued to drive the overall market with 63.4 per cent contribution in volume and 45.1 per cent in value.
“The number of overhand properties grew to 14,792 units worth RM8.56 billion, up by 43.8 per cent in volume and 70.7 per cent in value against 2015,” the report revealed.
When launching the ceremony, Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Othman Aziz said local authorities and property developers must exercise due diligence before arriving at development decision to avoid an oversupply situation.
“Timely and accurate data are very important. I strongly urge all data providers to continue supplying data as required.
“At the same time, JPPH should strengthen its role as the main property data source in the country,” he said.
He said policies introduced by Bank Negara Malaysia worked positively in curbing housing price speculation.
“Increase in housing price slowed down to five per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016 as opposed to 7.2 per cent price increase in 2015 and 8 per cent in 2014,” he said.
Othman, however, could not give a prediction as to when the property market will start improving.
