WHILE several other states are facing difficulty in selling property, the number of unsold properties in Penang dropped last year compared to the year before, said state housing exco Jagdeep Singh Deo.

The National Property Information Centre (Napic) figures showed that overhang properties in Penang went down from 3,916 units in 2017, to 3,502 last year.

Jagdeep said the year-on-year drop was proof that Penang remains attractive to property buyers and investors when other locations like Johor, Perak and Selangor were recording higher overhang, some with increases by 200% to 300%.

“I call on all Malaysians and foreign investors to look in Penang if they want to buy properties. You can’t go wrong buying in Penang.

“I believe we will see further reduction (in the overhang) in the time to come,” he told a press conference at Dewan Sri Pinang today.

Property overhang in Johor went from 4,376 in 2017 to 6,066 last year. In Perak, overhang also increased from 2,276 to 5,367.

In Selangor, unsold units also went up from 3,713 in 2017 to 4,693 last year.

Earlier this week, when the 2018 property market report was launched, Napic director Md Badrul Hisham Awang said the property sector had been picking up in the first quarter of this year.

He said there was a 6.9% increase in the number of property transactions, and a 5.1% increase in transaction value in the first quarter of this year compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Meanwhile, on a separate matter, Jagdeep congratulated the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) and Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) for maintaining their five-star ratings in the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s 2018 star-ranking system for local councils.

Under the system, local councils are assessed according to four main criteria – core services (40%), community involvement and resident feedback (25%), management (20%), and client management (15%).

MBPP scored 95.8% while MPSP scored 95.9%. Both have been ranked five stars since 2015, improving their ranking from three stars in 2008.

Jagdeep also told reporters that MPSP’s application to be upgraded to a city council will be presented to the cabinet soon.

“MPSP, the biggest local council in the country, managing an area even larger than Singapore, has met all the criteria to be a city council.

“Hopefully MPSP’s application will be presented to the cabinet this month at the earliest,” he said. – May 3, 2019.