Kuala Lumpur property market expected to be promising

PETALING JAYA (May 1): The volume of transactions for Kuala Lumpur’s property market was up marginally by 0.2% with 20,590 transactions recorded last year compared with 20,553 in 2013, reports the National Property Information Centre (Napic) in its “Property Market Report 2014”.

Value increased 19.2% to RM23.78 billion compared with RM19.95 billion in 2013.

The residential sub-sector accounted for 73.6% of volume, followed by commercial (23.2%), development land (2%) and industrial (1.2%) sub-sectors.

Compared with 2013, all but one sub-sector recorded a rebound in volume, led by industrial (22.8%), commercial (13.4%) and development land (7.0%).

In terms of value, all sub-sectors recorded double-digit growth.

The All House Price Index for KL rose by 7.0% from 2013 to 255 points.

However, Carey Real Estate (Ampang) Sdn Bhd director Avtar Singh remains cautious on the market outlook for the year.

“We are experiencing a slowdown in purchases due to the newly imposed [Goods and Services ] tax and [stricter] loans. Unless something drastic happens, we may not see the property market picking up soon,” Avtar says.

Prices for landed residential property in established areas continued to rise last year due to their limited availability.

Single-storey terraced units in Lucky Gardens and Taman Tun Dr Ismail recorded double-digit growth, transacting at between RM0.95 million and RM1.2 million, while two-storey terraced houses breached the RM2-million mark in Bangsar.

For the high-rise residential segment, prices also rose due to demand for affordably priced low and medium-cost flats located near existing light rail transit (LRT) lines.

The residential rental market also saw an increase in several choice locations. Gross yield for landed properties ranged from between 1.8% and 4.5%, and 2.8% and 7.1% for stratified units.

The year also saw an increase in the number of new launches, with 11,883 residential units recorded compared with 5,481 in 2013.

Sales performance was moderate at 50.9%. Condominiums and serviced apartments comprised a large proportion of new launches with 6,512 (54.8%) and 5,207 (43.8%) units respectively.

“Our market is driven by speculators and investors, which drives prices up, making it hard for genuine buyers out there,” says Avtar. “So, although there are [new] launches, apart from the 10% to 20% of early buyers, sales are experiencing a slowdown. Hopefully, we will see some adjustment to prices later this year of between 10% and 20%.