It’s no surprise that Malaysia has a lot of properties – but unfortunately, many of them are left unsold. These properties, also known as overhang residential units, are definite as completed residential properties that remained unsold for nine months or more.
According to the Property Market Report 2023 by the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC), Perak has the most overhang properties out of all the Malaysian states, with 4,598 units in 2023. This number is particularly worrying because the number is a 98.9% spike from 2,312 units in 2022. There are many reasons for overhang in a state, including oversupply of residential units and economic pressure.
The southern state of Johor places second as the state with the most overhang, with 4,228 units in 2023. However, this is a 19.6% drop from last year’s recorded 5,258 units. Kuala Lumpur and Selangor take third and fourth place respectively. The capital reported an increase of 3.1% from 3,429 units in 2022 to 3,535 units in 2023, while the state of Selangor had a 7.9% decrease in overhang properties, going from 3,698 units to 3,405 units. Almost every other state also sees a drop in overhang properties from last year, except for Negeri Sembilan.
Despite the spike in Perak, the total number of residential overhangs in 2023 declined by 7% from 2022. NAPIC said in a recent statement regarding the report, “The residential overhang shows encouraging momentum, as the numbers continued to decline as compared to 2022.” The value of overhang residential units also declined 4% to RM17.68 billion in 2023 from RM18.41 billion a year earlier.
In terms of the price range of residential overhang, properties priced below RM300,000 made up the highest residential overhang at 29.4% (7,592 units), followed by properties priced between RM500,001 and RM1 million at 29.1% (7,523 units). Properties priced between RM300,001 and RM500,000 placed third at 25.3%, while units above RM1 million accounted for only 16.2% (4,173 units).
The NAPIC report also shared details like the Malaysian House Price Index (MHPI), so if you’re interested in reading the full report, you can check out the NAPIC website. What are your thoughts on the number of overhang properties in Malaysia?
