Housing power
21/05/2005 NST-Prop By Fadzil Fauzi

The year that was plastered smiles on some property owners, but frowns on others, going by the findings of the Government in its just released House Price Index. It all depends on what they bought.

On the whole, the National Property Information Centre (Napic), a unit of the Ministry of Finance’s Valuation and Property Services Department, said the residential sector remained the backbone of the property market in 2004, contributing 66.6 per cent or 195,243 to the volume of all property transactions that took place. By value, the housing deals were worth RM29.3 billion, representing 49 per cent of the total RM59.96 billion that was exchanged during the year - the highest amount for the last decade.

Backed by the recovery in the domestic economy and low housing interest rates, Napic said the national house price average grew two per cent to RM156,808 in the fourth quarter of 2004 (Q4, 04) from RM153,580 as at Q4, 03 .

This, the highest price over a 10-year period, sent the agency’s All House Price Index up to 113.5 during the period from 111.2 in Q4, 03.

Kuala Lumpur and Malacca registered the highest average house price growth at 5.08 per cent and 5.29 per cent respectively. This was due to the price in KL jumping to RM304,741 from RM290,006 a year earlier, while in Malacca, it improved to RM106,403 from RM101,055 over the same period.

The other major States showed only minimal growth, with Selangor and Johor achieving 0.71 per cent and 0.81 per cent respectively. However, in Perlis, Napic recorded a contraction in price by 1.14 per cent.

Overall, the agency found that houses priced below RM180,000 continued to dominate the market, accounting for 78.4 per cent or 153,095 of total transactions.

Terraced to perform

Paying attention to the country’s ubiquitous housing format, the terrace house, Napic found that the “average” unit price in the country for Q4, 04 was RM141,850, a 2.7 per cent increase over the RM138,047 captured a year earlier.

In deriving the estimate, the agency’s data revealed that the range was polarised by KL (where the average was RM321,247) and Perlis (at RM69,696).

In-between, Napic said, terraces in prime urban centres of the peninsula such as Penang, Selangor and Johor were at RM189,606 (5.4 per cent up over the 2003 average price); RM237,823 (0.8 per cent up); and RM107,189 (2.5 per cent up) respectively.

For KL, it elaborated that terrace units in parts of the city strengthened by between four and 9.3 per cent between Q4, 04 and Q4, 03. Leading the pack was Bukit Damansara with a 9.3 per cent increase; followed by Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Bangsar Baru (8.7 per cent); Bukit Bandaraya (6.5 per cent); Desa Sri Hartamas (six per cent); and Taman Sri Hartamas (4.2 per cent).

In Selangor, the Petaling District continued to enjoy the strongest demand, with houses in Bandar Utama recording a double digit increase of 12 per cent; followed by Bukit Jelutong in Shah Alam (6.5 per cent); Bandar Kinrara in Puchong (between 2.6 per cent and 9.3 per cent); and Ara Damansara (3.3 per cent).

Terrace units in other areas such as Subang Jaya, Damansara Utama, Bandar Baru Sri Damansara and Mutiara Damansara were stable.

Stratified attainment

In the stratified residential sub-sector, Napic said the preliminary average price nationwide in Q4, 04 was RM140,735 - reflecting a contraction of 1.6 per cent from the RM142,979 recorded a year prior.

At the highest end of the range were highrise units in KL, which at RM167,959, was 1.1 per cent less than the average price they could command at the end of 2003, while at the lowest end were units in Negri Sembilan. At RM65,703, apartments in this State were more or less stable, shedding only 0.13 per cent from the 2003 average price of RM65,793.

In Penang, prices of apartments were also stable, moving to RM138,387 last year from RM138,514 in 2003.

Things were more severe in Selangor, where units lost RM6,172 (or 4.3 per cent) from their 2003 average price of RM142,275.

In Johor, however, the “average” apartment managed to gain RM4,130 to RM126,841 in Q4, 04 compared to Q4, 03.