Kuala Lumpur sees 0.6pct drop in residential prices in 12 months

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur is one of the first tier cities that saw residential prices slip on annual basis, a report by Knight Frank showed.

According to its third quarter (Q3) 2018 Global Residential Cities Index, the independent global property consultancy said residential prices in Kuala Lumpur had dropped 0.6 per cent over the 12-month period.

The Malaysian capital joins other first-tier cities that registered overall declines such as London (-0.3 per cent), Melbourne (-1.5 per cent) and Shanghai (-0.2 per cent).

Six Italian cities including Venice and Rome now sit within the bottom 20 rankings. Stockholm, Tel Aviv and Turin represent the three weakest city markets this quarter.

“A mix of economic stagnation, high rates of new supply and affordability constraints are contributing to softening prices in a number of these urban markets,” the report said.

The index tracks the performance of mainstream house prices across 150 cities worldwide, of which 44 are from Asia-Pacific.

Six Asian cities, including four from India, made the global top ten rankings – Xi’an, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Hong Kong and Surat.

On average, it said global prices increased by 4.5 per cent this past quarter with 123 cities registering a rise in residential prices over a 12-month period

It said Asia Pacific remains the top-performing world region, with a 6.2 per cent increase over the 12-month period to Q3 2018, up from 3.3 per cent a year ago.

According to the report, Xi’an tops the index this quarter, registering a price growth of 20 per cent, almost twice the rate of growth of Changsha (10.9 per cent), China’s second strongest-performing city.

Knight Frank Asia Pacific head of research Nicholas Holt said while the Asia Pacific region continues to lead the world in residential price growth this quarter, its pole position is looking more at risk following the introduction of cooling measures, rising interest rates, and waning buyer sentiment.

“A combination of these factors will likely lead to slowing growth momentum as we head into 2019,” he said.

Source: NST