Of these, around 15 percent (4,912 units) are condominiums and apartments within the affordable price range.

In 1H 2019, unsold residential units priced between RM200,000 and RM300,000 accounted for the majority of total residential supply overhang at 22.3 percent (7,328 units), reported The Malaysian Reserve.

Data from the department showed that properties priced from RM300,0001 to RM400,000 also made up 17.5 percent of the overhang with 5,731 units, while those priced at over RM1 million represented 12.8 percent with 4,213 units.

Johor registered the highest number of residential overhang with 6,196 units. Perak and Selangor followed with 5,796 and 4,243 unsold units, respectively.

“This is not something we had anticipated. Typically, properties that are unsold are in the luxury segment that is priced in the millions,” said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah following the launch of Malaysia Property Market 1H19 report by JPPH.

“We need to find out what had contributed to this rise.”

Amiruddin attributed the situation to various factors, including location, home loan approvals and mismatch.

The property sector witnessed a slight hike in transaction volume and value, expanding by 6.9 percent to 160,172 units and 0.8 percent to RM68.3 billion respectively.

Residential properties accounted for the biggest share of the market at 62.4 percent with 99,922 transactions valued at RM34.65 billion.

Nonetheless, the number of new residential launches fell to 23,591 units in 1H 2019 from 46,617 units a year ago.

Terraced homes dominated the new launches, with multiple-storey and single-storey units accounting for 50 percent or 11,789 units of the total figure. It is followed by condominiums and apartments at 35.2 percent with 8,321 units.