- The government in the past months to cater
for economic recovery, resulting in improvement of country’s liquidity formulated
various policies and incentives. However, the extensions of loans by financial
institutions were still limited even after overcoming the liquidity problem in the
country.
- Developers are still reluctant to lower
their prices on property.
- Government took measures to improve the
economic situation; RM5 billion worth of unsold properties were sold at significant
discounts to homebuyers.
- Developers are moving ahead with more
caution in launching of new housing projects. This is due to the still oversupply of
certain categories of properties.
- To boost occupancy rates, incentives like
rent-free period and other benefits were offered to attract tenants.
- The impact of the recession reduced the
property transactions in 1998 to the lowest in the last seven years. The value of
residential transacted was the lowest in the last three years. The situation is similar
for the commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors.
- Perak emerged as the best performer in 1998
with the most active agricultural sector, and Selangor performing well in residential,
commercial and industrial sector.
- In terms of quarterly performance, analysis
of the number of transactions showed that the property market have touched the bottom of
the recession in the first quarter of 1998.
- The residential sector has been the least
affected by the recession, with 1998 average prices lower than 1997 prices but higher than
1996, but transactions are far lower than they were in 1997 or 1996.
- Small urban centers like Kelantan and
Terengganu were relatively unscathed by this recession unlike big urban centers that have
considerable speculative element.
- Over the last few years, commercial and
retail sector is oversupplied especially in the Klang Valley.
- Options to overcome the property turmoil:
a) Freeze temporarily all approvals for the conversion of land for commercial development.
b) Cease approvals for application to develop land in cities with higher densities. c)
Stop temporarily all financing to the property sectors suffering from oversupply.
Sector |
1997 |
1998 |
Change
in % |
| Residential |
175,644 |
122,881 |
- 30 % |
| Commercial |
21,632 |
12,085 |
-
44 % |
| Industrial |
9,373 |
4,862 |
- 48 % |
| Agricultural |
51,145 |
39,857 |
-
22 % |
| Others |
16,955 |
6,392 |
- 62 % |
| Total |
274,749 |
186,077 |
- 32 % |
| Detail
Number of Property transacted in Malaysia by Sector and Value
Value |
Residential |
Commercial |
Industrial |
Agricultural |
Developmt |
Others |
Total |
| |
1997 |
1998 |
1997 |
1998 |
1997 |
1998 |
1997 |
1998 |
1997 |
1998 |
1997 |
1998 |
1997 |
1998 |
| 25,000 & Below |
15,864 |
15,690 |
515 |
472 |
61 |
228 |
20,535 |
19,416 |
1,702 |
1564 |
691 |
31 |
39,368 |
37,401 |
| 25,001-50,000 |
23,591 |
18,631 |
894 |
812 |
114 |
132 |
10,021 |
8,411 |
1,355 |
1078 |
1,107 |
26 |
37,082 |
29,090 |
| 50,001-75,000 |
32,840 |
21,433 |
1,013 |
673 |
210 |
111 |
5,485 |
3,883 |
1,022 |
553 |
663 |
28 |
41,233 |
26,681 |
| 75,001-100,000 |
28,898 |
20,387 |
1,417 |
735 |
226 |
152 |
3,638 |
2,344 |
881 |
449 |
405 |
12 |
35,465 |
24,079 |
| 100,001-150,000 |
29,158 |
20,331 |
2,055 |
1,322 |
759 |
419 |
3,741 |
2,296 |
910 |
526 |
976 |
23 |
37,599 |
24,917 |
| 150,001-200,000 |
18,665 |
11,814 |
3,094 |
1,523 |
827 |
577 |
2,173 |
1,194 |
668 |
381 |
311 |
12 |
25,738 |
15,501 |
| 200,001-250,000 |
9,496 |
5,720 |
2,773 |
1,466 |
897 |
585 |
1,270 |
596 |
493 |
198 |
238 |
3 |
15,167 |
8,568 |
| 250,001-500,000 |
13,042 |
7,233 |
6,541 |
3,483 |
3,756 |
1,710 |
2,444 |
1,118 |
1,548 |
609 |
439 |
19 |
27,770 |
14,172 |
| 500,001-1,000,000 |
2,390 |
1,167 |
2,167 |
1,195 |
1,308 |
510 |
1,071 |
368 |
1,260 |
344 |
120 |
11 |
8,316 |
3,595 |
| 1,000,001 & Above |
1,700 |
475 |
1,163 |
404 |
1215 |
438 |
767 |
231 |
1,978 |
509 |
188 |
16 |
7,011 |
2,073 |
|
|
