Ho (centre) poses with a copy of the surveys while (from left) Tan, Tong, Zaini and Tiah look on.
By: Yip Wai Fong
PETALING JAYA: Residential property launches and sales performance have declined in 1H 2025, according to a survey on property industry performance conducted by Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda).
Units launched took a downward dip by 26%, totalling 12,938 units compared to 17,404 units in 2H2024. The take-up rate was 24%, a decrease from 55% in 2H2024.
“It bears mentioning that almost the same sentiments in the survey are reflected in NAPIC’s recently announced Property Market Report for First Half 2025. Transactions volume reported a decrease while there was a marginal increase in value,” Rehda president Datuk Ho Hon Sang said.
Terrace homes, be they single-, double- and three-storey were the most sold properties. In terms of take-up, double- and three-storey terrace homes recorded the highest performance, followed by serviced apartment.57% of the launches were priced between RM300,001 to RM700,000.
Meanwhile, serviced apartments constitute the largest share of unsold units, with the most remaining on the market for over 36 months. For all property types, 24% of the unsold completed units were priced at more than RM1mil and another 22% were priced at RM500,001 to RM600,000.
A high 71% of respondents said they face financing issues, primarily end-financing loan rejections. Respondents said homes priced between RM300,001 and RM500,000 have the highest loan rejection rates ranging from 16% to 30%.
The survey has the participation of 187 Rehda members and is focused on Peninsular Malaysia.
Rehda also conducted a second survey aimed at gauging developers’ sentiment and 137 members participated. Respondents have a mostly neutral outlook for the next 12 months, with increased optimism in 1H 2026.
Concern on the impact of SST implementation was prevalent, with 73% indicating that they expect to adjust their property selling prices for an increase of between 3% and 5%.
Ho said while the residential segment is not subject to the expanded SST, he believes the impact has been reflected in the increase in building material price and equipment rental recently. He also said it won’t be an easy decision for developers to increase property selling price despite the hike in cost, as they would have to consider factors such as securing financing and homebuyer affordability.
“If developers have choices, I believe they won’t increase the selling price but will mitigate the cost increase and maintain the status quo. However, for commercial properties, price increase is expected,” Ho added.
Also present were deputy president Datuk Zaini Yusoff, vice president Datuk Tiah Oon Ling, secretary general Datuk Tan Hon Lim and immediate past president Datuk NK Tong.
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