KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 17): The Malaysian property market is expected to stay uneventful this year with no signs of a housing 'bubble', according to CBRE | WTW.

"The 'bubble' will not happen, we have not seen panic selling happening in Malaysia, and there is no price overheating," it's managing director Foo Gee Jen told reporters at a press conference after the 2018 Asia Pacific Real Estate Market Outlook: Malaysia briefing here.

Foo stressed signs of panic selling and overhang issues are prevalent only in certain sub-locations such as in Cyberjaya, where vacancy rates are generally higher.

Elsewhere other than the sub-locations, take up rates are at "reasonable" levels, taking example from the landed residential segment which hovers around 65%-70%, he added. 

Pricing has also moderated about 5%-8% in the past three years, thanks to various cooling measures introduced by Bank Negara Malaysia, in hopes to curb speculation which led to disproportionate appreciation, according to Foo.

These measures include the Real Property Gains Tax and foreign ownership restrictions.

Foo believed this is in line with the wage increment of 5%-6.5% in the same period.

In the first half of 2017 (1H17), residential transactions declined by 7% on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, compared with a 14.5% y-o-y decline in 1H16, based on data provided by CBRE | WTW.