PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian property market is expected to be “flattish” this year with signs of positive growth in the residential sector, says CBRE|WTW managing director Foo Gee Jen.

Speaking at the 2018 Asia Pacific Real Estate Market Outlook briefing, Foo said that developers were restrategising their products to cater to the demand.

“Within the Klang Valley, the price range that has been deemed acceptable by the public is around RM500,000 for landed property, whereas outside the Klang Valley, it is RM300,000 to RM350,000.

“So, for the current year, we foresee continuous growth in volume for this category of the market as more developers join in to provide for the needs of the market,” he said.

The challenge, Foo said, is “how to fill up the units that have been built the last three to five years” and those that are under construction today.

“We all saw the reports on the over 130,000 units of property overhang reported last year, and I do think that it will take some time for the properties to be absorbed by the market.

“Every developer has slowed down in terms of launching a new product, and this in a way, has helped to cushion the impact (of the overhang) a little,” added Foo.

While the residential sector has always commanded interest, the industrial sector is underrated. For the last three to five years, this sector has experienced strong growth, driven by the private sector.

CBRE|WTW Johor Baru director Tan Ka Leong said local companies and multinational companies continued to explore Iskandar Malaysia for industrial properties.

“But some of these industrial properties do not meet the needs of the end-user, but cater to investors. As a result, these completed units are vacant,” Tan said.

As for the general property outlook for the Klang Valley, CBRE|WTW KL director Ungku Mohd Iskandar said there will be more township projects in Rawang and Puncak Alam, both in Selangor, this year.

“So, the focus is no longer on the central Klang Valley area,” he said.

“It is expected that there would be upcoming townships in the northern region of the Klang Valley, namely, in places such as Rawang and Puncak Alam,” Ungku Mohd Iskandar said.

He said locations in southern Klang Valley such as Semenyih, Puchong South and Cyberjaya have been the focus of developers, and that the take-up rate is good for the landed units priced between RM600,000 and RM900,000.

The average take-up rate is about 65%-70%.

“This shows that the market is actually open to owning a landed property within that price as long as it is within the Klang Valley,” he added.

In the office market, Ungku Mohd Iskandar said the area covering The Intermark, Renaissance Hotel and Tun Razak Exchange would be the new golden triangle of the Klang Valley.

“TRX could be the next centre of gravity for the Klang Valley,” he said.