KUALA LUMPUR: The overall property market for 2015 will be cautious with slower take-up and occupancy rates as compared with last year, which was still resilient despite the market slowdown, according to C H Williams Talhar and Wong Sdn Bhd.

“I refer to the previous market survey by the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association in September last year, where a take-up rate of 49% was achieved within the first three months and 90% in a year,” said managing director Foo Gee Jen during the presentation of the C H Williams Talhar and Wong Property Market Report 2015 yesterday.

“This year, we foresee the take-up rate to be slower by 5% for the first three months and it will take developers more than one year to be able to achieve a 100% take-up rate.”

Foo noted that price growth in 2014 had been moderate compared with the double-digit growth experienced between 2011 and 2013.

“The moderate price growth is attributed to the cooling measures imposed by the federal government as well as the higher loan rejection by the banks,” said Foo.

In the Klang Valley, while landed residential properties remain as the popular choice among buyers and saw healthy growth in certain popular, mature areas like Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Bangsar, the high-rise residential segment saw a 69% occupancy rate as at 2014.

The high occupancy rate is attributed to the ample supply of serviced apartments compared with condominiums.

“With new supply coming in this year, it will put pressure on the prices and rental yields, which has remained at 3.5% for the condo market last year,” said Foo.

The Klang Valley will see more office supply coming in 2015, reaching almost 100 million sq ft of net floor area. This gives Kuala Lumpur the highest supply of office space in the region, with Singapore and Bangkok offering 80 million sq ft to date.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 6, 2015.