IPOH, Dec 2 – A total of 4,161 housing properties in Perak were unsold in 2024, according to data from the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC), the State Legislative Assembly was told today.

State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Sandrea Ng Shy Ching said developers should conduct more in-depth market studies to identify the type of housing needed and ensure the prices offered are reasonable to address the issue of unsold properties.

"Developers should bear a significant responsibility to ensure that each development project aligns with the needs and capabilities of the local community.

"It is crucial to be sensitive to these factors to ensure a balance between housing demand and supply and to avoid unsold properties in the future,” she said.

However, Ng added that the latest NAPIC report showed a significant decrease in unsold housing units, from 4,161 units to 3,039 units in the third quarter of 2024.

Ng was responding to a question from Selinsing assemblyman Sallehuddin Abdullah, who asked about unsold housing properties and abandoned housing projects in Perak.

Ng said the state government, through the Perak Housing and Property Board (LPHP), has taken immediate measures to address the issue.

"This includes holding discussions with relevant parties such as NAPIC, the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (REHDA), and local authorities to identify the locations of housing projects.

"Factors contributing to the overhang problem, such as construction location, marketing strategies, the large number of units launched, development concepts, and selling prices, were also identified during the discussions,” she explained.

Ng also noted that there is currently no detailed mechanism to collect data on the number of housing projects sold by districts and house types.

"However, the state government, through LPHP, is actively developing a housing dashboard that will enable more systematic and effective monitoring and analysis of data in the future,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ng said a total of six housing projects have been declared abandoned by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

"There are two projects in the Kinta district, two in Manjung, one in Kampar, and one in Batang Padang,” she said.