By THARMINI KENAS tharmini@thestar.com.my
IT has been said time and again that the right information at the right time is of the utmost importance to make a critical decision. One needs to know about past trends to be able to make predictions about the future and consecutively, make decisions whether or not to buy a house.
The National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) has come up with the Malaysia House Price Index for second and third quarter of this year (Q2 - Q3 2017) report that details information regarding housing prices across different Malaysian states from July 2017 to September 2017.
Overall, the Malaysian house price index increased by 5.1% in the third quarter of 2017 compared to the same quarter last year. From an average of RM 385,201 in 2016 to RM 404,835 this year, the price of houses is evidently increasing sharply.
The house price (all types encompassing) at Kuala Lumpur remains the highest in Malaysia at RM 785,327. Meanwhile, the price of houses at Selangor, Johor and Penang are RM 463,324, RM 323,823 and RM 427,209 respectively. The lowest recorded house price is in Kelantan at RM 164,300. It is evident that the KL city is fast-paced when it comes to housing and the bridging of the gap between the capital and other parts of Malaysia is increasing steadily with time.
The data is inclusive of terraced houses, high-rise units, semi-detached houses and detached houses.
To be specific, the price of terraced houses in Greater KL has increased by 7.99% from the third quarter of last year. From RM 747,703 in 2016 to RM 807,434 in 2017, the increase recorded is only second to terraced houses in Johor where the price increase is a whopping 10.29% during that span of time, from RM 249,727 in 2016 to RM 275,424 in 2017. Penang showed the least percentage increase which is 5.17 %, from RM 455,494 to RM 479,045 while Selangor showed 7.19% increase from RM 449,342 to RM 481,652.
As for high-rise units, Greater KL recorded a rise of 4.6% to RM 493,788 in 2017 while Selangor, Johor and Penang rose by 4.23% to RM 280,306, 5.25% to RM 247,660 and 0.51% to RM 341,483 respectively.
Semi-detached houses showed the lowest percentage increase with Penang recorded the highest percentage increase of 6.16%, from RM 556,326 to RM 601,226. However, the highest house price for the semi-detached house was recorded in Greater KL with a whopping RM 2,397,284 in 2017. The scarcity of land and the ample demand contributes greatly to the price hikes of landed properties in KL and Selangor compared to other parts of the country.
The highest price of houses in the country was recorded in Greater KL for detached houses where one unit averaged out at RM4,135,584 in 2017. Selangor, Johor and Penang showed a rise of 6.1% to RM 852,139, 2.27% to RM 396,047, 7.0% to RM 696,457 respectively.
The general trend shows a spike in the prices of houses in all parts of the country from 2016 to 2017.
Affordability of houses has become a major concern for the B40 and M40 people since the prices were set on an upwards trends and there were also issues such as household income and loan approval.
In a survey titled ‘Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey’ conducted by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia in 2016 and 2017, the overall median monthly household income showed an upwards trend for B40, M40 and top 20 (T20) income group.
In general, the median monthly household income for Malaysian increased 14.02% from RM4,585 in 2014 to RM5,228 in 2016. The median income of the B40, M40 and T20 all showed an upward trend from 2014 to 2016.
Annual growth of the M40 group is the highest at 6.9% followed by the B40 group and T20 group, at 6.6% and 6.2% respectively.
M40 group median household income increased from RM 5,465 in 2014 to RM 6,275 in 2016 while that of B40 group increased from RM 2,629 to RM 3,000 and T20 rose from RM 11, 610 to RM 13,148.
Specifically, Greater KL recorded the highest median monthly household income of RM9,073 in 2016 while Selangor, Johor, Pulau Pinang and Melaka recorded RM 7,225, RM 5,652, RM 5,409 and RM 5,588 respectively.
Even when the household incomes have been steadily increasing, affordability is yet to be achievable due to the increase in the price of residential properties and costs of living. It is made worse with the difficulties in loan approvals.
The affordability of houses remains a far-fetched idea for many especially those in the B40 and M40 group.
It is hoped that with timely information, Malaysians would be able to make informed decisions concerning buying of houses and investing in properties.
*The Malaysia House Price Index Q2 - Q3 2017 report can be found on NAPIC’s website while the Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey report can be found through the link:
https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/pdfPrev&id=RUZ5REwveU1ra1hGL21JWVlPRmU2Zz09
