Little or no change in residential property prices

The Klang Valley residential property monitor saw little or no change in prices on a quarterly basis in 4Q2015. In his presentation of the data, Savills (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd vice-president Jeffri Rahim says that both 3Q2015 and 4Q2015 were similar in the “flattening” of residential prices.

“The softening of the market is a more recent occurrence, seen in the last two quarters, with prices hardly rising since 1Q2015 or 2Q2015,” he remarks.

Notable launches in the fourth quarter included KSK Land’s YOO8 Tower A at 8 Conlay (564 units) and UDA Holdings’ serviced apartments, Anggun Residences (384 units).

Despite the sluggishness of the property market, the year-on-year (y-o-y) data saw a mostly upward trend in terms of residential price growth, with the highest growth in high-rise residences and the least change in standard 2-storey houses.

One-storey terraced houses

One-storey landed residences remained stable from the previous quarter (3Q2015) with no change in their prices.

“Growth in house prices was mostly seen in the first and second quarters of 2015 and started to flatten in the subsequent quarters,” Jeffri says.

There was a notable growth of 27.3% y-o-y in Bangsar Park and an increase of 20% in Puchong Perdana from 4Q2014.

Bangsar Park saw a y-o-y rise in average price from RM1.15 million to RM1.4 million for a 1,875 sq ft house, while the average price in Puchong Perdana increased from RM280,000 to RM300,000 for a house measuring 1,300 sq ft.

Jeffri attributes this growth to the location of the properties in question — in mature townships that are supported by existing and improved accessibility and amenities.

On a quarterly basis, average house prices remained steady, registering no change from 3Q2015.

“The softening market has been more recent for both resale and off-plan,” Jeffri says. “Prices are staying at a constant average now, rather than increasing.”

Rents mostly saw an increase y-o-y, with the exception of Taman Tun Dr Ismail’s (TTDI) Jalan Abang Haji Openg, where they declined from RM1,400 per month for 1,760 sq ft to RM1,300.

Rents ranged from RM1,300 for a 1,300 sq ft house in Bandar Sri Damansara to RM2,600 for one measuring 1,760 sq ft in Lucky Garden, Bangsar.

Two-storey terraced houses

Compared with the corresponding quarter in 2014, prices of 2-storey terraced houses generally increased in 4Q2015. However, several areas saw either a drop in price or no change.

SD10 in Bandar Sri Damansara registered the highest growth of 19.3% y-o-y while Jalan Athinahapan and Jalan Datuk Sulaiman in TTDI recording the second highest of 14.3%.

SD10’s average price was RM1.05 million, compared with RM925,000 in 4Q2014 for a house measuring 1,650 sq ft. Jalan Athinahapan and Jalan Datuk Sulaiman in TTDI, meanwhile, saw a change in average price to RM1.6 million from RM1.45 million for houses measuring 1,760 to 1,900 sq ft.

There was a 4.5% decrease in the average price of 2-storey terraced houses in BU12, Bandar Utama. The price of a 1,650 sq ft house dropped to RM1.05 million at end-2015 from RM1.3 million in 4Q2014.

The areas that recorded no change in price growth were BU1 in Bandar Utama and Bangsar Baru. Houses in BU1, with built-ups of 1,650 sq ft, saw a slight average price drop to RM1.25 million from RM1.3 million. Two-storey terraced houses in Bangsar Baru, with built-ups of 1,870 sq ft, retained their average price of RM1.8 million.

On a quarterly basis, there was either no change or a decline in price growth. Puchong Jaya and Pusat Bandar Puchong (Taman Wawasan) declined 3.9% and 2.6% respectively.

Bandar Puchong Jaya’s 1,500 sq ft houses saw the average price drop to RM740,000 from RM770,000 in 4Q2015, while 1,400 sq ft houses in Pusat Bandar Puchong decreased to RM760,000 from RM780,000.

“Puchong has seen a few launches of new housing developments, slightly softening interest in resale units, and developers are offering discounts on new projects, which may account for the slight decline,” Jeffri explains.

Rents fluctuated slightly y-o-y for 2-storey terraced houses, though generally 4Q2015 witnessed a y-o-y drop in rents in several areas — Bandar Sri Damansara SD7, Bangsar Baru and Bandar Puchong Jaya.

Homes with with built-ups of 1,650 sq ft in SD7 saw rents decrease to RM2,000 from RM2,300. Rents dropped to RM3,100 from RM3,600 per month in Bangsar Baru, and slid to RM1,500 from RM1,700 in Bandar Puchong Jaya.

High-rise residences

Prices of high-rise residences in the Klang Valley grew compared with 4Q2014, though there were no changes q-o-q from 3Q2015 to 4Q2015.

“High-rise residential units remain affordable and should see steady demand,” Jeffri says. “There has been increasing demand nowadays because of better management, security and facilities offered by these developments.”

The highest growth was at TTDI’s Villa Flora, with a 23.5% increase in average price to RM840,000 from RM680,000 for a 1,248 sq ft unit.

Lanai Kiara in Mont’Kiara registered 21.7% growth while The Plaza in TTDI saw a 20% increase in price growth.

The average price of Lanai Kiara’s 1,421 sq ft units rose to RM730,000 from RM650,000. The Plaza saw its average price rise to RM1.2 million from RM1.02 million for a 1,800 sq ft unit.

High-rise price growth on a quarterly basis remained steady from 3Q2015 to 4Q2015.

“The price rise would largely depend on the location and surrounding developments,” Jeffri says. “There are a number of new developments coming up and developers have been offering attractive incentive schemes for their off-plan developments.”

Upcoming high-rise developments include Setia City Residences in Setia Alam, Shah Alam.

Meanwhile, rents generally saw an annual decrease, with the exception of Sri Putramas II in Sri Hartamas and Tivoli Villa in Bangsar.

The 1,295 sq ft units at Sri Putramas saw a y-o-y increase in rent to RM2,300 from RM2,000. Similarly, Tivoli Villa’s 818 sq ft units saw rent go up to RM2,100 from RM1,800.

Rents were mostly stable compared with 3Q2015, though a few notable changes occurred at Stonor Park where units with built-ups of 2,314 sq ft saw a drop to RM8,000 from RM9,100 a month. - The Edge Property