KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s property market saw slower activity in the first quarter of 2026, recording nearly 90,000 transactions worth more than RM51 billion amid cautious sentiment and economic uncertainty.
According to the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), transaction volume fell eight per cent year-on-year, while transaction value slipped marginally 0.6 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2025.
JPPH director general Abdul Razak Yusak expects the property sector to continue to reflect a cautious economic environment influenced by global uncertainties, including geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, he said measures introduced under Budget 2026 and the Madani Economy framework, including targeted cash assistance, inflation control initiatives and infrastructure investments, are expected to support household purchasing power and strengthen demand in the property market.
Abdul Razak said the residential subsector remained the key driver of the property market.
The segment accounted for 58.8 per cent of total transactions, with almost 53,000 deals valued at around RM22 billion.
Affordable Homes Dominate Demand
Homes priced at RM300,000 and below continued to make up the largest share of residential transactions.
More than half of all residential property deals fell within this category, with 27,209 units recorded during the quarter.
“Compared with the first quarter of 2025, all subsectors including residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and development land recorded slower transaction performance, with declines ranging between one per cent and 10.7 per cent,” Abdul Razak said during the presentation of the first quarter 2026 property market report.
Completed residential units increased by more than 30 per cent to 12,905 units compared with 9,329 units in the same quarter last year.
Projects commencing construction across all subsectors declined significantly in the first quarter of 2026.
This reflects a more cautious approach among developers amid rising construction costs and economic uncertainties.
Residential construction starts fell sharply to 8,243 units from more than 28,000 units recorded during the same period last year.
Shop and serviced apartment construction starts declined by more than 20 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.
Despite the slowdown in construction starts, planned future developments showed signs of confidence returning to the market.
Planned residential developments rose more than 50 per cent to 12,852 units, while planned serviced apartment developments soared to 6,961 units from 4,024 units previously.
New residential launches totalled 9,112 units during the quarter, slightly lower than the more than 12,000 units launched in the first quarter of 2025, a reduced sales performance of 11.5 per cent.
Prices Edge Higher
Meanwhile, the Malaysian House Price Index for the first quarter of 2026 recorded 235.2 points.
This translates into an average house price of RM507,533 per unit, with annual growth of 1.7 per cent.
“All states recorded moderate positive growth ranging from 0.3 per cent to 7.2 per cent, except for Perak which remained stable, while Negri Sembilan and Sabah recorded slight declines,” Abdul Razak said.
On the overhang situation, he said unsold completed residential units rose 7.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 32,801 units worth RM16.37 billion.
The serviced apartment subsector recorded an increase in unsold completed units to 19,263 units worth RM16.52 billion, with nearly 60 per cent priced between RM500,000 and RM1 million.