Malaysia Vision Valley, Kuala Lumpur High Speed Rail, development policies and infrastructure projects are expected to drive the state’s property market over future decades.
Aerial View of S2 City Park together with the government precinct and S2 Mosque.
NEGERI Sembilan’s property market may remain moderate for a while, but there are several developments that will spur its growth in the next few decades.
The National Property Information Centre (Napic) from the Finance Ministry's Valuation and Property Services Department had indicated that the focal upcoming development plan for Negeri Sembilan involves upgrading infrastructure and public amenities, based on the 11th Malaysia Plan.
Proposed infrastructure developments include Seremban Middle Ring Road Phase 3, Paroi – Senawang – KLIA – Salak Tinggi Highway (SKLIA) and KLIA – Port Dickson Highway.
Upgrading of several main roads includes Jalan Utama Bandar Sri Sendayan – KLIA, Jalan Seremban – Kuala Pilah and Jalan Nilai – Salak Tinggi – Lukut – Port Dickson.
The Malaysia Vision Valley is another noteworthy development that is taking place in the state.
Expected to have a development implementation period spanning 2016 to 2045, RM260bil will be allocated for development expenditure, of which RM5bil has been allocated for the project commencement through Budget 2016.
The 108,000-hectare coverage area encompasses Nilai, Seremban and Port Dickson, which will complement developments in the Klang Valley, particularly in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
This long-term development is set to spur domestic and foreign investment, which in turn is expected to drive the property sector.
Labu is expected to have a new train terminal to serve the proposed high-speed rail link (HSR) between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Negeri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the state government had also suggested that another rail link be built from the proposed station to the KL International Airport (KLIA).
This will allow commuters to have easier access to the KLIA and enable faster movement of people.
KTM Berhad (KTMB) has plans to revive the 39km Seremban-Port Dickson railway line. When ready, thousands of tonnes of cargo and up to 100,000 people can be transported each day.
Its plans include a possible cargo hub to serve Malaysia's southern regions. Part of the planning is a southern inland cargo hub that can be developed along the Port Dickson line corridor.
KTMB president Datuk Sarbini Tijan said that the line could serve Port Dickson's two refineries and containers coming in from Indonesia.
Accessibility driving townships
The existence of good transportation infrastructure will play a vital role on the development of Negeri Sembilan’s townships, such as Seremban 2.
IJM Land senior general manager for central region Hoo Kim See commented, “Started in 1995, Seremban 2 is a 3,800-acre freehold self-contained township offering modern amenities and conveniences of a city while maintaining the grace and serenity of a country atmosphere.
“Seremban 2 is strategically located 1km from Seremban toll plaza, 4km southwest of the existing Seremban town centre and about 60km away from Kuala Lumpur.
“We saw great growth and development potential in Seremban as at that point of time, rapid development shifted towards south of Kuala Lumpur.
“Being the nearest capital town to Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Seremban will experience economic growth from the spillover effect of development southwards of Kuala Lumpur.”
New development policies
Hasan shared that the Negeri Sembilan Rural Development Policy 2015-2045 and Modernisation Policy 2015-2045 are expected to be tabled by year-end.
The rural development policy is vital to empower rural development with the aim of ensuring people in rural areas would not be left behind in state development.
The modernisation policy was formulated to ensure the people's well-being would continue to be protected by the government while implementing its planned development projects.
Napic had indicated that the new housing policy for Negeri Sembilan is set to address the affordable housing issue in the state.
The policy formulates, among others, the increase of bumiputra ownership quota from 30% previously to 50%. Every new housing project must ensure 50% (of its units) consists of affordable houses.
Of the 50% affordable housing, 15% is to be priced at RM80,000 and below, another 15% priced at RM250,000 and below, and the rest will be priced at RM400,000 and below.
The new rulings are expected to give positive impact on the market, particularly concerning affordable housing provision.
Another initiative to address the affordable housing issue is Seremban Sentral, which will comprise 3,196 stratified residential units.
Hasan had indicated that only a 30% quota was set in areas where the Malay population is not high, such as Temiang, Lobak, Lukut and Bahau.
Moderate performance in 2015
There were 20,860 transactions worth RM6.65bil recorded in 2015. This was a decrease of 9% and 1.6% in volume and value respectively when compared to last year’s figures.
Market activity across all sub-sectors except agricultural dropped.
Residential, commercial, industrial and development land sub-sectors reduced in volume by 13.1%, 15.2%, 27.3% and 7.4% respectively.
In terms of value, industrial, agricultural and development land sub-sectors increased by 2.3%, 18.4% and 18.4% respectively.
Stable residential sub-sector
As the state is located next to the Klang Valley, the state’s performance is in part influenced by the latter.
Prices of residential property registered stable trends across the districts with positive movements charted mostly for terrace units.
The spillover housing demand from the Klang Valley pushed up prices of such units. Houses in strategically located schemes nearby towns, higher learning institutions and commercial centres such as Aeon Seremban 2, Mydin Hypermarket, Tesco Seremban 2 and Palm Mall witnessed price increases.
Similarly, prices of stratified properties varied with increases noted in locations with good accessibility.
As at Q4 2015, the All House Price Index for the state stood at 209.9 points. This was an increase of 6.9% from 196.4 points in Q4 2014.
On the same note, the average All House Price for the state as at Q4 2015 increased to RM198,043 from RM185,339 in Q4 2014.
The residential rental market was generally stable with some exceptions. Limited availability of single storey terraces and low-cost terraces led to substantial rental growth as high as 26.0%.
Houses located in comprehensive developments and good surroundings were rented out at a higher price.
Rental for double-storey terraces in Seremban 3 increased by 27.8%. This was driven by demand from students of Universiti Teknologi Mara (Seremban 3 branch) located nearby.
Lower numbers of new launches were recorded in the primary market. Last year, 2,989 units were launched.
Compared to 2014 with 3,917 units, the total was lower by 23.7%.
However, sales performance was slightly better in 2015 at 61.5%, compared to 60.0% in 2014.
Single and two-to three-storey terraces formed the bulk of new launches. This accounted for 79.1% of the total.
Shop overhang situation improved as its numbers eased from 490 units worth RM134.85mil in 2014 to 399 units worth RM120.28mil. This was a reduction of 18.6% and 10.8% in volume and value respectively.
The industrial overhang remained at seven units worth RM1.79mil in 2015. Conversely, unsold under construction increased slightly by 1.9% from 106 units in 2014 to 108 units in 2015.
The retail sub-sector’s performance sustained as the overall occupancy rate of shopping complexes slightly increased from 76.1% in 2014 to 76.5% in 2015.
As at end-2015, there were 83 existing shopping complexes with 441,164 sq m of space with another eight complexes (66,823 sq m) incoming and four complexes (44,097 sq m) in planned supply.
The occupancy rate of purpose-built office stood at 93.4% in 2015. This was slightly lower than 93.5% in 2014 with a positive take-up rate of 1,082 sq m.
At end-2015, there were 103 existing purpose-built office buildings (295,483 sq m) with another four buildings (20,248 sq m) incoming and one building (10,839 sq m) in the planned supply.
The overall occupancy rate of hotels in the state increased to 47.4% from 44.1% in 2014, according to Tourism Malaysia.
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