Condo, apartment units below RM300,000 dominate property overhang list

KAJANG: Condominium and apartment units priced between RM200,000 and RM300,000 dominate the list of property overhang in the country, mainly contributed by those in Perak and Kedah.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Wira Amiruddin Hamzah said condominium and apartment units made up 43 per cent of the total property overhang in the country, whereby a majority of these real estate were in the ‘affordable’ range.

“The indicators of overhang property are important to ensure that the housing supply is consistent with the demand, while the mismatch issue can be minimised.

“Hence, I urge the developers and authorities, who approved project developments and their selling prices to pay attention to the overhang data,” he told a press conference after announcing the real estate market performance in the first half of this year, here yesterday.

Property overhang units must not be confused with unsold stock. The government has defined overhang units as properties that are completed and issued with Certificates of Fitness for Occupation or Temporary Certificates of Fitness for Occupation, but remain unsold despite having been put on the market for at least nine months.

Amiruddin urged developers to build houses that caters to the demand of buyers in terms of the property type, location and price range.

In the first half of this year, 23,591 new residential units were launched, which were 49.4 per cent lower over the same period last year.

Perak recorded the highest new launches with 4,557 units, capturing almost 20 per cent of the national total, followed by Johor (4,233 units), Penang (3,216 units), Kuala Lumpur (2,565 units), and Selangor (2,387 units).

Amiruddin said the residential subsector alone contributed 32,810 units worth RM19.76 billion to the overhang, while the shop subsector overhang contributed 5,760 units valued at RM4.98 billion.

He said the government’s main agenda going forward is to address the need for more affordable housing and finding the right solutions to the property overhang. — Bernama