For Immediate Release

• The analysis provides a view of the current demand trends using iProperty.com.my’s user visits and property listings data in the Malaysian subsale residential property market with a special focus on Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor
• Overall increase in demand for subsale residential properties at the national level by 13.3% compared to 2018
• Condominiums recorded a turnaround with a 14.2% growth in 2019 compared to -5.9% in H1 2019 Portal Demand Analytics
• Property prices in major states throughout the country are slowly converging, with more affordable cities seeing their property values increase over time

Mr. Premendran Pathmanathan, General Manager of Customer Data Solutions, REA Group Asia and Mr. David
Mawer, General Manager of Malaysia, iProperty.com Malaysia Sdn Bhd officiating the launch of the full 2019
Portal Demand Analytics.

(Click here to download image)

Kuala Lumpur, 17th January 2020 – iProperty.com.my officially released the full 2019 Portal Demand Analytics which provides an overview of subsale property demand using iProperty.com.my’s user visits and property listings data for residential subsale properties in Malaysia with a particular focus in KL, Selangor, Penang and Johor. The publication was unveiled at the opening of iProperty.com.my Home & Property Fair 2020 at Mid Valley.

The publication, presented by Premendran Pathmanathan, General Manager of Customer Data Solutions, REA Group Asia, reveals that the growth in user visits on iProperty.com.my continued to outpace the growth in listings for three property types: terrace house, condominium and serviced residence. This results in an overall increase in demand for subsale properties at the national level by
13.3% year-on-year (growth in user visits outpaced the growth in listings). This was mainly driven by the large demand in condominiums and serviced residences due to a modest drop in capital growth. As for the terrace house category, which represents over 50% of sub sale residential transactions in the market, it exhibited an increase in demand at 9.0% in 2019.

Through the publication, it was revealed that the top four housing markets in Malaysia, namely Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor, have experienced a growth in user visits in 2019. All states also experienced growth in listings except for Kuala Lumpur which experienced a decrease in listing. Johor is the only state where the listing growth outpaced visit growth.

Among the three property types, terrace houses emerged tops in 2019 in terms of capital appreciation with a 3.16% capital growth compared to 2018. Serviced residences, which recorded the highest demand growth in the first half of 2019 , maintained its top position among the three property types, ending the year with a demand growth of 17.3% year-on-year. Condominiums recorded a turnaround with a 14.2% growth compared to -5.9% in the first six months of 2019 . This can be partly attributed to a drop in the number of listings in the second half of the year. However, this property type registered the lowest capital growth percentage in 2019 at -2.02%.

Property prices in major cities throughout the country are slowly converging, with more affordable (second-tier) cities seeing their property values increase over time. For instance, Seremban which offers properties with an affordable median price of RM200,000 is highly attractive when coupled with factors such as connectivity and proximity to the Klang Valley, thereby contributing to its higher capital growth of 9.91%.

On the demand front, Kota Kinabalu remains the top capital city with the demand growth of an impressive 24.72% year-on-year. The number of users looking at Kota Kinabalu grew at a much faster pace in 2019 compared to the growth in number of listings. Meanwhile, Petaling Jaya trails in a close second at 22.13%. Another notable mention is Melaka City which saw its number of listings double in 2019, pulling down its demand figure to -5.3%. The surge in listings was contributed by condominium projects being utilised as short term rental units.

In summary, Kuala Lumpur improved in demand and recorded a 19.8% growth. Its median pricing is still the highest in the country at RM516,000 in 2019, although this figure had dipped from the H1 2019 Portal Demand Analytics median price of RM540,000 in tandem with a capital depreciation by -1.61% in 2019.

Benefiting from an overflow of population away from the city of KL, Selangor’s residential demand grew 22.4% in 2019. While the number of listings remained constant, the growth was brought about by a higher number of visits especially by users checking out the terrace home category.

Penang experienced a turnaround with demand figures jumping to 10.6% in 2019 from a disappointing -4.4% in H1 2019 Portal Demand Analytics . This positive shift can be attributed to the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project recently approved by the state government to be part of its multi-billion ringgit Penang Master Transport Plan (PTMP). The government also announced that several PTMP projects including the PSR will be tendered out in the second half of 2020.

As for Johor, the residential property landscape remains sluggish toward the end of the year. Johor is the only major state to register a negative growth in demand in 2019. Demand figures continue their downward trend at -12.2%. However, things are slowly turning around for the better as the demand figure for the first six months of 2019 was even lower at -16.6%. The poor performance can be attributed to a property oversupply. There has been an influx of property listings in the review period as a result of owners of numerous newly built properties having received their vacant possessions.

The analysis, with additional data compiled from brickz.my , aims to provide an insight for policy makers and property developers on Malaysian residential preferences. As the number 1 property portal in Malaysia, iProperty.com.my garners millions of visits each month. These real-time behaviours indicate where the nation’s residential demand (site visits) and, in comparison to supply (site listings) is leaning toward. iProperty.com.my are the first to publish these demand analytics in Malaysia with these data points have never been accessible in the region before. Tailored to initiate conversations among stakeholders, this analytics also serves to align industry players with market sentiments to facilitate better decision making.

“The lack of demand-driven data in Malaysia is crucial in policy planning and making evidence based subsidy decisions. It is our intention that the publication be made available for the benefit of all stakeholders so as to align industry players with market sentiments to facilitate better decision making. With these analytics, we hope all relevant stakeholders would be able to analyse the insights to understand the local market preferences better, which are reflective of the market demand. These analytics can only be compiled by collecting numerous data points. We hope to continue publishing these analytics in the years to come for the benefit of all parties in the property market,” said Premendran Pathmanathan, General Manager of Customer Data Solutions, REA Group Asia.

iProperty.com.my 2019 Portal Demand Analytics

(Click here to download image)

As the leader in the local property listing industry, iProperty.com.my has dedicated almost one year of research, planning and information gathering to produce this exclusive analytics. This analytics is the second edition and subsequent editions will be available in the future to provide invaluable insights into the local property market. Through big data technology, the analytics provides property owners and all relevant stakeholders comprehensive information about existing demand for certain projects.

Download the iProperty.com.my 2019 Portal Demand Analytics here.

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About REA Group & iProperty.com.my

REA Group Limited is a global, digital advertising company specialising in property. The business is innovative and values-driven, and it has a team of more than 1,600 people, united by one common goal ‘to change the way the world experiences property’. REA uses new technology to deliver innovative products and experiences to all of our users around the world. In Australia, REA Group operates the number one residential, commercial, share and co-working property sites, realestate.com.au, realcommercial.com.au, Flatmates.com.au and spacely.com.au. This large audience of people looking to buy, sell, rent or share property provides valuable data and insights on how people search and find a property. REA also owns Hometrack Australia, a leading provider of data property services. As part of the Group’s financial services offering, REA also owns Smartline, one of Australia’s premier mortgage broking franchise groups. Asia is the world’s fastest growing property region and remains an important part of the Group’s global strategy. REA Group’s Asian operations include market-leading property portals in Malaysia (iProperty.com.my), Indonesia (rumah123.com), Hong Kong (squarefoot.com.hk and SmartExpo) and Thailand (ThinkofLiving.com). We also have prominent portals in Singapore (iProperty.com.sg) and China (myfun.com). The Group’s websites, apps, and property events deliver the most comprehensive set of real estate services across South East Asia. iProperty.com.my is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With more than 3 million visits each month, iProperty.com.my is the market leading property portal, offering a search experience in both English and Bahasa Malaysia. ​Currently, iProperty.com.my has over two million users monthly and the company wants to continue to innovate and ensure seamless consumer experience For more information on all things property, visit iProperty.com.my