Malaysia House Prices Are Still Rising, But Only 16.6% of New Launches Sold — What the H1 2026 Data Actually Means

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Quick Answer (30 sec)

Malaysian house prices are still rising nationally. At the same time, new residential launches in H1 2026 recorded a sales performance of only 16.6%, and 33,094 completed homes remain unsold nationwide.

These two facts are not actually contradictory. Property is not one market — it is many local markets bundled into a single national average. A rising national index does not mean the specific unit you are looking at will rise. A slow national sales rate does not mean every property is a bad buy.

The question worth asking is not “will Malaysian house prices go up?” It’s “does this specific location, property type and price point have real, ongoing demand?”

Who Is This Article For?

This article is for you if you are:

• considering your first home purchase and confused by headlines that say prices are rising while other headlines say new launches aren’t selling;
• considering a serviced apartment or high-rise unit as an investment and want to know how real the oversupply risk actually is;
• already looking at a specific project and want to know which data actually matters, instead of relying on “the location is hot” from a developer or agent;
• trying to understand the difference between the national house price index, new-launch sales performance, and property overhang — three numbers that get mixed together far too often.

This article gives you a framework for reading property market data. It is not a recommendation on any specific location, project or price point. Whether the property you are looking at is right for you still depends on your own finances, the real supply-and-demand picture in that specific location, and the most current information you verify yourself.

Before You Read Further: 6 Checks to Run on Any Property You’re Considering

Before diving into the detailed numbers below, run this quick checklist against whatever property you’re currently considering. If most of your answers are “I don’t know,” that’s a sign to do more homework before you start negotiating price.

• How many genuine transactions have actually happened near this location, in this property type, in the last 12 months — and at what prices?
• How much new supply is expected to complete in this same area over the next 3 to 5 years?
• After maintenance fees, sinking fund contributions and realistic vacancy periods, what is the actual net rental yield?
• If you needed to sell in a few years, who would realistically be the buyer? Is there an active secondary market here?
• If interest rates, maintenance costs or your household expenses rise, how long could you keep servicing this loan?
• Have you verified real demand for this location and price point yourself, or are you relying mainly on what the developer or agent told you?

This checklist doesn’t replace a proper financial review, but it should help you walk into a developer or agent conversation with the right questions already in hand.

Key Takeaways

• 27,832 new residential units launched in H1 2026 with a 16.6% sales performance — but that is not the same as “83.4% will never sell.” New launches take time to absorb; not selling within the reporting period doesn’t mean a unit is unsellable.
• 33,094 completed homes remain unsold nationwide (RM17.78 billion), up 8.6% from H2 2025; unsold serviced apartments reached 23,375 units (RM19.33 billion).
• The national house price index (MHPI) is still up 0.9% year-on-year, but that is the lowest annual growth figure recorded in NAPIC’s own chart series since Q1 2022, and the index has now fallen quarter-on-quarter for two consecutive quarters.
• “National house price” is an average. Property demand is intensely local, so the same price point can face completely different supply-and-demand conditions depending on location and property type.
• Among completed unsold homes, the largest single price group is actually homes priced RM300,000 and below — not luxury units. “Too expensive” is an incomplete explanation for why a property doesn’t sell.
• Before buying, research local supply and demand directly. Don’t use the national price trend as a stand-in for whether a specific property is a sound purchase.

27,832 New Launches, But Only 16.6% Sales Performance

NAPIC data shows 27,832 new residential units were launched in H1 2026, down sharply from the revised H1 2025 figure of 37,250 units. The sales performance for this launch cohort was 16.6%.

16.6% does not mean “83.4% will never sell”

This figure represents the sales performance NAPIC recorded for the H1 2026 launch cohort specifically. It should not be read as “5 out of every 6 new homes have no buyer,” and it should not be treated as property overhang. Selling a home takes time — a project launched partway through H1 2026 that hasn’t sold out by 30 June doesn’t mean it never will. The more accurate reading is that current absorption of new launches is running slower than usual, not that the market has collapsed.

New launches skew toward terraced houses and high-rise, not evenly split

Of the 27,832 new units launched in H1 2026:

• Terraced houses: 13,028 units, 46.8% — of which 4,218 were single-storey and 8,810 were two-to-three-storey, concentrated mainly in Johor and Selangor;
• High-rise (condominiums/apartments): 11,535 units, 41.4%, concentrated mainly in Selangor and Pulau Pinang.

The remaining roughly 11.8% consists of other landed property types (semi-detached, detached, cluster housing).

Separately, both NAPIC’s own remarks and Bernama/The Star’s reporting confirm that homes priced between RM500,001 and RM1 million made up the largest single price bracket among new launches. NAPIC’s overview report does not publish the exact unit count or percentage for this bracket, so this article does not state one, to avoid presenting an unverified number as fact.

This matters for buyers because housing demand isn’t only a question of whether people need homes — it’s also whether people can afford what’s actually being built. Malaysia can simultaneously have genuine housing need and localised oversupply at specific price points. The two are not contradictory.

Selangor, Johor and Penang led new launches

The three states with the most new launches in H1 2026 were Selangor (8,354 units, 30% of the national total, 6.8% sales performance), Johor (6,697 units, 36.5% sales performance) and Pulau Pinang (2,878 units, 9.8% sales performance).

Notice that Selangor, with the most launches, had one of the weaker sales performances, while Johor, with fewer launches, sold far better. That alone tells you launch volume isn’t what determines sales performance — whether supply matches real demand is what matters.

33,094 Completed Homes Still Unsold

More telling than the new-launch sales rate is a separate figure: as of H1 2026, 33,094 residential units are classified as completed but unsold, worth RM17.78 billion — up 8.6% from 30,471 units (RM17.73 billion) in H2 2025.

What actually counts as property overhang?

NAPIC does not classify every temporarily-unsold unit as overhang. By its own definition, a unit must be fully completed, hold a Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC), and remain unsold more than nine months after launch to be counted in this “completed unsold” figure. So the 16.6% new-launch sales rate and the 33,094 completed-unsold figure are two different metrics measuring two different things — conflating them overstates how much of the new-launch cohort has actually become inventory.

Which property types dominate this figure?

Of the 33,094 completed unsold residential units, condominiums/apartments are the largest group at 42.8% (14,160 units), followed by terraced houses at 34.9% (11,547 units), semi-detached at 9.4% (3,124 units) and cluster houses at 4.3% (1,411 units), with the remaining 8.6% in other types. So “only high-rise units are unsold” isn’t accurate either.

Johor recorded the highest number of unsold completed residential units nationally, at 4,222 units (12.8% of the national total), followed closely by Selangor (4,185 units) and Perak (4,075 units). By value, Johor also led at RM3.72 billion, ahead of Selangor (RM3.11 billion) and WP Kuala Lumpur (RM1.92 billion).

(Note: this is the completed-unsold-residential state ranking, distinct from the serviced-apartment state ranking further below — Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor — which is a separate dataset. Don’t conflate the two.)

Is unsold inventory simply about price?

The data doesn’t support that simple a story. Of the 33,094 completed unsold residential units, homes priced RM300,000 and below account for the largest group at 37.3% (12,340 units); RM300,001–RM500,000 accounts for 27.6% (9,145 units); and units above RM500,000 together make up 35.1% (11,609 units — 25.6%/8,459 units in the RM500,001–RM1 million range, plus 9.5%/3,150 units above RM1 million).

In other words, the single largest group of unsold homes is priced at RM300,000 or below — not luxury stock. So “the market is stuck with unsold luxury homes” isn’t quite right. A RM250,000 home can still go unsold if its location lacks jobs, has poor transport links, sits in an already-oversupplied area, or has no rental demand. Affordable is not the same as desirable. Price is only one factor in demand.

The Serviced Apartment Numbers Deserve Extra Attention

H1 2026 also recorded a large inventory of 23,375 completed but unsold serviced apartments, worth RM19.33 billion — up 24.7% from 18,752 units (RM15.42 billion) in H2 2025. NAPIC classifies serviced apartments under commercial property, not residential.

The three states with the most unsold serviced apartments are Johor (9,946 units), WP Kuala Lumpur (6,343 units) and Selangor (4,034 units), together accounting for 86.9% (20,323 units) of the national total.

By price, the RM500,001–RM1 million bracket has the most unsold units at 55.3% (12,914 units), followed by units above RM1 million at 18.2% (4,254 units), RM300,001–RM500,000 at 17.7% (4,144 units), and RM300,000 and below at 8.8% (2,063 units).

This doesn’t mean “never buy a serviced apartment.” It does mean that if you’re considering one, you should scrutinise supply, upcoming completions, actual achievable rent, holding costs and secondary-market demand more carefully than you would for a typical owner-occupied home — the exact items in the checklist earlier in this article.

So Why Are Prices Still Rising?

Given this much unsold stock, a natural question is: if so many homes aren’t selling, why hasn’t the national price index fallen?

Because “national house price” is an average. NAPIC’s preliminary Q2 2026 Malaysia House Price Index shows the national index still up 0.9% year-on-year, but down 0.5% quarter-on-quarter versus Q1 2026 — the national average price fell from RM508,923 in Q1 to RM506,317 in Q2. That 0.9% annual growth figure is also the lowest reading in NAPIC’s own Q1 2022–Q2 2026P chart series.

So the more accurate statement isn’t “prices keep climbing strongly.” It’s: the national average remains slightly above last year, but growth has clearly slowed, and the index has now declined quarter-on-quarter for two straight quarters.

State-level performance varies widely

The three states with the strongest Q2 2026P year-on-year price growth were Perlis (+7.0%), Melaka (+4.6%) and Kelantan (+3.9%). NAPIC’s own commentary confirms that every state recorded positive annual growth except Selangor and Perak — those two were the only states with negative annual growth. The exact percentage declines for Selangor and Perak, and the exact gains for Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Pulau Pinang, are still being verified and are not stated in this article.

This illustrates something important: “the Malaysian property price” isn’t actually a very useful yardstick for a purchase decision. You don’t buy “Malaysia.” You buy a specific state, a specific town, a specific neighbourhood, a specific property type, a specific development, a specific unit. Property is an intensely local asset.

The market isn’t “dead” either

If you only look at the 16.6% new-launch sales performance, it’s tempting to swing to the opposite conclusion — that nobody is buying property at all. That’s also not accurate. The entire Malaysian property market recorded 187,320 transactions worth RM105.12 billion in H1 2026, with residential property accounting for 110,998 transactions worth roughly RM47.11 billion. Transaction activity remains substantial. The real question isn’t whether people are buying — it’s where they’re choosing to put their money. Areas with genuine demand keep transacting; areas with oversupply or mismatched product face longer selling periods.

A Simple Example: Two RM500,000 Properties, Two Different Risk Profiles

Consider two options.

Property A: RM500,000, in an established residential area with limited new supply nearby, near schools and employment centres, with long-term residents and genuine monthly secondary-market transactions.

Property B: also RM500,000, a newly built serviced apartment with roughly 5,000 similar units expected to complete nearby over the next few years, where rental demand currently comes mainly from short-term investors, and secondary-market transactions are rare.

Both properties cost RM500,000. Both sit under the same national index reading of +0.9%. But their investment risk profiles are entirely different. This is exactly why “will national prices go up?” is not the most useful question before buying — what actually matters is the supply-and-demand picture for that specific location and property type.

Common Misreadings of This Data

“The price index rose, so my property must have too.” Not necessarily. The MHPI is a national average. Performance can vary widely by state, location, property type, and even by individual development.

“33,094 unsold homes means the Malaysian property market is about to crash.” The data doesn’t support that conclusion. The market still recorded over RM105 billion in H1 2026 transactions, and the national price index is still marginally up year-on-year. A more accurate reading is that specific segments face real inventory buildup and supply-demand mismatch — not a nationwide collapse.

“Cheaper homes always sell more easily.” Also not accurate. Among H1 2026 completed unsold homes, the single largest group is priced RM300,000 or below. Location and genuine demand still matter enormously.

“A 16.6% sales rate means 83.4% is property overhang.” It doesn’t. New-launch sales performance and completed-unsold/overhang are different measures. NAPIC’s overhang definition specifically requires a completed unit with CCC that has been on the market unsold for more than nine months.

Conclusion: Don’t Ask Whether Malaysian Prices Will Rise — Ask Whether Your Property Has Real Demand

The H1 2026 data doesn’t tell us “now is definitely the time to buy,” nor does it tell us “property is off the table.” What it actually shows is a market that is clearly diverging by segment: the national average price is still up 0.9% year-on-year, but quarterly prices have now fallen for two consecutive quarters; new-launch sales performance sits at just 16.6%; completed unsold homes have reached 33,094 units; and unsold serviced apartments exceed 23,000 units.

Taken together, the reasonable conclusion isn’t a forecast of boom or crash. It’s this: research local supply and demand before you buy. Don’t assume the unit you’re looking at will rise just because the national average did. Don’t assume all property is a bad investment just because national inventory is elevated. The better question is always: does this location, this property type, this price point have sustained, genuine demand? Answer that first — then decide whether to buy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Your Next Step

Start with the “6 checks” checklist earlier in this article. Use it to work out the supply-and-demand picture, realistic rental return and resale liquidity for the specific property you’re considering — before you start negotiating price.

If you want to go further into whether buying makes more sense than renting, or whether a specific purchase risks becoming a financial trap, YFD has related articles in progress covering exactly these questions (Rent or Buy a Home? Compare Horizon and Total Cost; Is Buying a Home Worth It?; When an Expensive Home Becomes a Financial Trap) — these are still in Content Studio’s production pipeline and not yet publicly live, so links will be added once they are published.

If you’d like help working through whether a property decision fits your overall financial picture, you’re welcome to book a consultation. Whether and how you implement any resulting plan — through YFD or elsewhere — remains entirely your choice.

Sources and Verification Notes

This article’s data is drawn primarily from the official report of the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC), Jabatan Penilaian dan Perkhidmatan Harta — LAPORAN PASARAN HARTA H1 2026 (napic.jpph.gov.my, released 10 September 2026), cross-checked against Bernama/RTM, Malay Mail and The Star’s reporting of the same release.

Verified on: 11 September 2026.

The Q2 2026 Malaysia House Price Index is marked P (Preliminary) and may be revised. The exact Q2 2026P year-on-year percentage changes for Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Pulau Pinang, Selangor and Perak are still being verified and have been left out of this article — what is confirmed is that every state recorded positive annual growth except Selangor and Perak, and that Perlis, Melaka and Kelantan recorded the highest gains.

This article provides general financial education and does not constitute personalised property investment advice. Verify current official information and assess your own circumstances before acting.

Remuneration Disclosure

If you choose to arrange insurance, unit trusts or PRS through me and FA Advisory, I may receive commission from the relevant product provider. This commission is separate from, and does not offset or replace, the financial-planning fee. I will also explain the relevant arrangement and potential conflict of interest before implementation.

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