KUCHING: Condominums and apartments made up the bulk of the more than 22,100 units of incoming supply of residential houses in Sarawak.
Out of the total 22,123 units of the incoming supply homes in fourth quarter 2018,condominiums/apartments totalled 9,721 units or about 44 percent, according to preliminary figures released recently by the National Property Information Centre (Napic),Valuation & Property Services Department of the Finance Ministry.
More than 83 percent or 8,122 of the 9,721 incoming condominium/apartment units are in Kuching Division, followed by 574 units in Samarahan Division and 504 units in Sibu Division. There are 379 incoming units in Bintulu Division and 142 units in Miri Division.
For other types of residential homes, the incoming supply comprise of ,5313 units of two to three storey terrace houses,4,625 units of single storey terrace houses,1,036 units of two to three storey semi-detached houses,484 units of single storey semi-detached houses,378 units of town houses,116 units of detached houses and 442 units of low-cost houses.
Out of the 4,625 incoming single storey terrace houses,the bulk or 1,876 units are in Kuching Division,1410 units in Samarahan Division,763 units in Sibu Division,183 units in Miri Division,124 units in Sarikei Division,97 units in Limbang Division and 56 units in Betong Division.
For the incoming supply of two to three storey terrace houses (total 5,313 units),Kuching Division takes up 1,832 units, Sibu Division 1,664 units and Samarahan Division 648 units. For the whole of 2018,a total of,2,305 units of condominium/apartment units were completed in Sarawak based on Napic’s preliminary figures.Again,Kuching Division tops the list with 1,567 units or 68 percent of the total.Miri Division came in second with 371 units while Bintulu Division took the third spot with 201 units. Sibu Division finished at the bottom with 166 units.
For the new housing starts in first to fourth quarter 2018,,Napic’s preliminary figures show that a total of 2,817 units of condominium/apartment units would be built in Sarawak main towns, out of some 7,418 units of various types of residences.
Of the figures, Kuching Division again takes the lead with 1,919 units or 68 percent, followed by Sibu Division (416 units), Samarahan Division (300 units), Miri Division(142 units) and Bintulu Division (40 units).
The single storey terrace houses came in second with 2,029 units of the housing starts.Of the number,the concentrations are in Kuching and Samarahan Divisions, with 943 units and 859 units respectively, followed by Limbang Division (80 units),Miri Division (64 units) and Sibu Division (40 units).
The new starts also comprise of 1,764 units of two to three storey terraced houses, out of which 929 units are in Kuching Division,435 units in Sibu Division and 201 units in Samarahan Division. Bintulu Division will have 116 units.
Other new starts include 256 units of two to three storey semi-detached house,238 units of low-cost houses,152 units of single storey semi-detached houses,102 units of town houses and 60 units of detached houses.
On SOHO (small office home office), Napic preliminary figures reveal that there are 250 units (102 units in Kuching Division and 148 units in Miri Division) in incoming supply in fourth quarter-2018.No such unit was completed statewide during the year under review.
Napic also released the figures of the existing stock of residential houses in the various divisions in fourth quarter-2018 which totalled 254,721 units.
The breakdown figures are 107,183 units or 42 percent in Kuching Division, with Miri Division coming in second with 43,514 units and Sibu Division finishing third with 37,103 units.Samarahan Division, which sees rapid development in recent years,is ranked fourth with 26,485 units and Bintulu Division fifth with 19,661 units.
Sarikei Division has 6,837 units,Sri Aman Division 5,562 units, Limbang Division 3,485 units,Betong Division 2,645 units, Mukah Division 1,513 units and Kapit Division 733 units.
In its review of the 2018 Malaysian property market, Napic said the number of new launches nationwide contracted by 14.9 percent to 66,040 units (77,570 units in 2017) ,with condominiums and apartments making up the bulk at 36.8 percent, followed by two to three storey terrace houses at 29 percent.
“The residential overhang situation continued increase to 32,313 units valued at RM19.86 billion, an increase in volume of 30.6% and 27.0% in value (24,738 units worth RM15.64 billion in 2017).
“High-rise residential houses (condominiums and apartments) formed the bulk of overhang units,representing 43.4% (14,031 units) of the total. Most of the overhangs units were concentrated in Perak (2,905 units: 20.7%) and Kuala Lumpur (2,692 units; 19.2%),” it added.
On completed units in 2018,Napic said these were down by 0.7 percent (93,547 units) from 94,198 units in 2017 while new starts recorded a decrease by 8.6 percent (122,065 units).
“House prices continued to record steady increase. The Malaysian House Price Index (MHPI) stood at 193.3 points, up by 3.1 points against 2017.
“The two major states moved in tandem, led by Johore and followed by Selangor, each saw its house price increased by 5.6% and 3.3%.By type, terrace house price index remained to record the highest increase.”
On 2019 outlook, Napic expects property market activities to stabilise, judging from the increase in volume and value of total transaction at end-2018.
There were 313,710 transactions valued at RM140.33 billion in 2018,an increase by 0.6 percent in volume and 0.3 percent in value as compared to 2017.
“Property overhang issue needs to be thoroughly handled and a holistic measure needs to be (put) in place.
“Overhang does not necessarily mean over supplied.There are other contributing factors, such as mismatch, affordability & costs of living. It is about finding the right location, right price, right type to cater for the right demand,” it said.
