Malaysia Property Overhang Explained: NAPIC's Three Categories and Two Nine-Month Clocks
Property overhang in Malaysia does not mean “selling slowly”. It is a defined NAPIC category: units that are completed, issued with a Certificate of Compliance and Completion (CCC) and still unsold more than nine months after launch — and it covers residential units, retail shops and industrial units, not only homes. NAPIC publishes two further categories, unsold under construction and unsold not constructed, and their nine months runs from the date of the first sale and purchase agreement signed in that project or launch phase — a completely different starting point. This page sets out the three categories, the two clocks, and the latest figures as at 30 June 2026 (released by NAPIC on 10 September 2026): 33,094 homes, 23,375 serviced apartments counted separately, and Johor highest at 4,222. It ends with how to look up your own district for free.
Short answer
Property overhang is NAPIC’s statistical category: units that are completed, issued with a Certificate of Compliance and Completion, launched for sale on or after 1 January 1997, and still unsold more than nine months after launch. It covers residential units, retail shops and industrial units. As at 30 June 2026, released 10 September 2026, residential overhang was 33,094 units worth RM17.78 billion, with 23,375 serviced apartments counted separately and Johor highest at 4,222.
Key numbers at a glance
| Overhang definition | Completed, has CCC, unsold over 9 months after launch (launched on or after 1 Jan 1997) |
|---|---|
| Where the two nine-month clocks start | Overhang: the unit's launch. Under construction / not constructed: the project's first SPA |
| National residential overhang (H1 2026) | 33,094 units / RM17.78 billion |
| The other two categories | 58,611 unsold under construction; 12,894 unsold not constructed |
| Serviced apartments (separate, commercial) | 23,375 units / RM16.28 billion; +30.7% vs H1 2025 |
| The stalest slice | 16,059 units (48.5%) unsold over six years (NAPIC's two rows added) |
| Largest price band | RM300,000 and below, 37.3% |
| Johor | 4,222 units, highest of any state, 12.8%; prices +3.6% in the same release |
Key points in 30 seconds
- Overhang is NAPIC’s definition: completed, issued with a CCC, launched for sale on or after 1 January 1997, and unsold more than nine months after that launch — and it covers residential units, retail shops and industrial units, not just housing.
- The two nine-month clocks start in different places: overhang counts from the unit’s launch for sale; unsold under construction and unsold not constructed count from the first SPA signed in that project or phase.
- National residential stock in H1 2026: overhang 33,094 units (RM17.78 billion), unsold under construction 58,611, unsold not constructed 12,894 — about 104,599 in total by my own addition, which makes overhang under a third of the pipeline.
- Serviced apartments sit in the commercial sub-sector and are counted separately: 23,375 units worth RM16.28 billion, up 30.7% year-on-year, of which 71.1% has sat 6 to 10 years and 55.2% is priced RM500,000 to RM1 million — the mirror image of residential overhang, 37.3% of which is RM300,000 and below.
- 16,059 residential overhang units, 48.5%, have been unsold for more than six years (NAPIC’s two duration rows added together), and the largest price band is RM300,000 and below.
- Johor’s 4,222 units is the largest of any state at 12.8% of the national total, but Selangor at 4,185 and Perak at 4,075 are almost level — and in the same release Johor’s prices rose 3.6%, the fastest of the major states.
What does property overhang mean in Malaysia? NAPIC's own definition
In Malaysia “overhang” is not a loose description of a slow market. It is a defined statistical category published by NAPIC (the National Property Information Centre, part of JPPH), and NAPIC splits unsold stock into three separate categories, counted and published separately. Press coverage usually quotes only one of them.
Here are NAPIC’s three definitions, quoted from the Property Market Status Report (BM: Laporan Status Pasaran Harta Tanah) rather than paraphrased:
- Overhang: “‘property overhang’ has been defined to include residential units, retail shops and industrial units, which were completed and issued with Certificate of Compliance and Completion (CCC) but remained unsold for more than nine months after it was launched for sale on or after 1 January 1997.”
- Unsold under construction: “property units that are under construction, have been launched for sale by the developer, and have remained unsold for more than nine (9) months from the date of the first Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) signed for the respective project or launch phase.”
- Unsold not constructed: “property units that have not commenced construction, have been launched for sale by the developer, and have remained unsold for more than nine (9) months from the date of the first Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) signed for the respective project or launch phase.”
| Not this | Why not |
|---|---|
| Not “selling slowly” | It has hard thresholds: completed, issued with a CCC, and unsold more than nine months after launch |
| Not the vacancy rate | Overhang is new stock not yet sold; vacancy is stock that is sold but unoccupied. NAPIC publishes no residential vacancy rate |
| Not subsale inventory | Overhang counts developers’ new units, not units listed by owners on the subsale market |
For how new-build and subsale differ on risk, cost and waiting time, see new versus subsale property.
The two nine-month clocks, and why they start in different places
All three definitions say “more than nine months”, but the nine months is counted from two different events. This is the single most useful thing to take from the figures, and the part most readers miss.
| Category | The nine months runs from | What else must be true |
|---|---|---|
| Overhang (completed, unsold) | The day that unit was launched for sale | Completed, issued with a Certificate of Compliance and Completion (CCC), and launched for sale on or after 1 January 1997 |
| Unsold under construction | The date of the first SPA signed for that project or launch phase | Under construction, and launched for sale by the developer |
| Unsold not constructed | The same: the first SPA for that project or phase | Construction not commenced, and launched for sale by the developer |
- The overhang clock measures the unit’s own timeline. When was this unit launched, is it finished, does it have a CCC? All three must hold, and it must still be unsold more than nine months after launch. For how the CCC relates to handover, see CCC and vacant possession.
- The other two clocks measure the project’s timeline. The start is the first SPA signed in that project or launch phase — not each unit’s own launch date, and not completion. So in a project whose first SPA was signed early, the remaining units cross into “unsold under construction” sooner.
- The consequence: one unit can sit in all three categories over its life. It may start as “unsold not constructed”, become “unsold under construction” once building starts, and become overhang if it is still unsold when the CCC is issued. The three figures are not three different sets of buildings — they are three positions in one pipeline.
Four ways these figures get misused. Adding the 23,375 serviced apartments to the 33,094 homes and attributing the total to NAPIC, which publishes no such total. Quoting only the 33,094 and missing the 58,611 unsold under construction — the full pipeline is about 104,599 units, so you understate competing stock by more than half. Treating Johor’s 113,528 serviced apartment and SOHO supply as unsold stock. And judging your own district from a national figure. Any one of these can leave your estimate of competition out by a factor of two, which feeds straight into the price you offer and the rent you expect. Run rental yield on the real listings in your own block first.
Ask Louis directly
Tell me the district and product type you are looking at and I will pull the district-level overhang figures for it from NAPIC, with the period and report name attached, and set them against the live listings in the block.
I will look up the NAPIC district-level overhang figures for any district you name – by product type and price band, with the period and report title attached – and add the current count of rental and resale listings, and how long each has been up, in the specific blocks you are considering.
The H1 2026 national figures: read all three categories, not just one
Everything below is as at 30 June 2026 and was released by NAPIC on 10 September 2026.
| Category | Units | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Overhang (completed, unsold) | 33,094 | RM17.78 billion (RM17,779,820,000) |
| Unsold under construction | 58,611 | RM32,311.63 million |
| Unsold not constructed | 12,894 | RM6,745.82 million |
| All three added together (my own addition, not a NAPIC total) | 104,599 | — |
The point worth keeping from that table: the 33,094 everybody quotes is the smallest of the three. The whole residential unsold pipeline is roughly 104,599 units — a figure I reached by adding NAPIC’s three rows, not one NAPIC publishes — and overhang is under a third of it. Quoting only 33,094 understates total unsold stock; quoting only 104,599 mixes finished units in with buildings that have not started. Know which one you are holding.
By property type: condominiums and apartments lead
| Type | Units | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Condominium / apartment | 14,160 | 42.8% |
| Terraced | 11,547 | 34.9% |
| Semi-detached | 3,124 | 9.4% |
| Cluster | 1,411 | 4.3% |
| Detached | 1,071 | 3.2% |
| Other categories | about 1,781 | about 5.4% |
NAPIC’s own note: “Berdasarkan jenis harta tanah, kondominium dan pangsapuri merupakan kategori tertinggi” — by property type, condominium and apartment is the highest category.
Two published growth rates: +23.0% and +8.6%, both correct
The same 33,094 is reported with two different growth rates. This site prints both and names the base of each, rather than picking one.
| Base of comparison | Published change | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| 30 June 2025 — NAPIC’s own base (26,911 units / RM16.44 billion) | Volume +23.0%, value +8.2% | How much the stock grew over a full year |
| End-2025 — the base used by several outlets (30,471 units / RM17.73 billion) | +8.6% (33,094 ÷ 30,471 = 1.086) | How much it grew in the six months of H1 2026 |
NAPIC’s sentence reads: “This represents a year-on-year growth of 23.0% in volume and 8.2% in value against the corresponding period in 2025 (H1 2025: 26,911 units; RM16.44 billion).” Both percentages are correct arithmetic. The error is treating them as rival answers to one question.
Serviced apartments are counted separately, and tell the opposite story
Serviced apartments are not inside the 33,094. In NAPIC’s classification they sit in the commercial sub-sector, not residential, so unsold completed serviced apartments are a separate figure in a separate table. That matters most in Johor Bahru, where serviced apartments are the dominant high-rise product in Iskandar Puteri and around Danga Bay. For why they carry different tax and utility rates, see commercial-title property and its running costs.
- Unsold completed serviced apartments: 23,375 units worth RM16.28 billion, as at 30 June 2026.
- Year-on-year, up 30.7% in volume and 12.8% in value (H1 2025: 17,883 units, RM14.43 billion). That is NAPIC’s own comparison.
- If you want a combined figure, write “33,094 homes plus 23,375 serviced apartments” — do not add them into one number and attribute it to NAPIC. NAPIC publishes no such total.
| Unsold for | Units | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 3 years | 762 | 3.3% |
| 3 to 5 years | 3,514 | 15.0% |
| 6 to 10 years | 16,612 | 71.1% |
| More than 10 years | 2,487 | 10.6% |
- 71.1% has been sitting for 6 to 10 years. This is not stock that stopped selling this year; it has been accumulating for a long time.
- By price: 55.2% is priced RM500,000 to RM1,000,000 and 18.2% above RM1,000,000. The rest of that distribution was not legible in what I could read, so I am not publishing a third band.
Which price bands the overhang sits in, and for how long
If you assumed overhang is mostly luxury stock nobody can afford, the published figures say otherwise.
| Price band | Units | Share |
|---|---|---|
| RM300,000 and below | 12,340 | 37.3% |
| RM300,001 to RM500,000 | 9,145 | 27.6% |
| Above RM500,000 | 11,609 | 35.1% |
| Unsold for | Units | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 3 years | 10,917 | 33.0% |
| 3 to 5 years | 6,118 | 18.5% |
| 6 to 10 years | 12,567 | 38.0% |
| More than 10 years | 3,492 | 10.6% |
- The largest single band is RM300,000 and below, at 37.3%. Residential overhang is mainly a cheap-stock problem, not a luxury one — the opposite of what most commentary implies. For the schemes aimed at that end of the market, see affordable housing schemes.
- 16,059 units, 48.5%, have been unsold for more than six years. That comes from adding NAPIC’s “6 to 10 years” row (12,567) to its “more than 10 years” row (3,492) — my own addition, not a line NAPIC publishes. Note the rounding: adding NAPIC’s two published shares (38.0% + 10.6%) gives 48.6%, but 16,059 ÷ 33,094 is 48.5%. The safest phrasing is “more than 16,000 units, close to half”.
- Set against serviced apartments, where 71.1% has sat for 6 to 10 years and 55.2% is priced RM500,000 to RM1 million: residential overhang is largely cheap stock, while the serviced-apartment overhang is mid-to-high-priced and much staler.
Want to see what you can actually buy?
The rules are above; these are the actual homes. Each page lists the projects I am tracking, with published price ranges and the date each figure was checked. Tell me the area on WhatsApp and I will send the current list.
Is Johor oversupplied? The largest overhang and the fastest price growth
| State | Units | Share of national |
|---|---|---|
| Johor | 4,222 (RM3,715.59 million) | 12.8% |
| Selangor | 4,185 | 12.6% |
| Perak | 4,075 | 12.3% |
- Johor does have the largest residential overhang of any state — but the top three are almost level: 4,222, 4,185 and 4,075, a spread of under 150 units. These figures do not support “Johor is far worse than everywhere else”.
- Johor’s other two categories, from the Southern Region report: 5,879 unsold under construction and 2,788 unsold not constructed. All three add to 12,889 units (my own addition).
- In the same release, Johor’s house price index rose 3.6% year-on-year — the fastest of the major states (Malaysia +0.9%, Selangor -1.1%) — while Johor’s residential transaction volume fell 15.1%. Largest overhang, fastest price growth and a sharp fall in volume, all at once. The full market picture – prices, volumes and rates – is on the companion page asking whether house prices will drop; to read state supply alongside state prices, see choosing an area from published data.
- Johor’s 4,222 is the best cross-confirmed figure on this page: it appears in two separate NAPIC reports — the national Status Report and the Southern Region report — with the same value of RM3,715.59 million.
Price bands by state are also not published. The report carries state totals and a national price-band split, but the two crossed — which price bands Johor’s overhang sits in — exists only in NAPIC’s free Data Visualisation portal. That is the next section.
What overhang does and does not predict about your resale and rent
This is the question a buyer actually has, and it splits in two: there is a part the overhang figures genuinely answer, and a part they cannot touch.
| Can tell you | Cannot tell you |
|---|---|
| How much finished stock of your product type is competing for the same buyers | The resale price of your own block |
| Which price bands that stock sits in (nationally) | Rent levels in your area — Malaysia has no official residential rental index |
| How long that stock has been sitting | The vacancy rate — NAPIC publishes none for residential |
| How much under-construction and not-yet-started stock is still to arrive | Prices in any future period |
- Overhang is not a guarantee of falling prices. In H1 2026 Johor had the largest overhang of any state and its price index rose 3.6% year-on-year. Both happened at once, so “high overhang therefore prices fall” is not what the data says.
- What competes with you is the listings in your block and your area, not a national total. A developer’s completed unsold units chase the same buyers and tenants you do — and a developer can offer terms a private seller cannot.
- To judge rent, use what you can count yourself: how many units of the same layout in the same block are listed now, how long they have been listed, and at what rent. The formula and every cost to deduct are in rental yield in Malaysia. To judge resale, pull actual transacted records — see property valuation and transacted prices.
- Banks watch supply too. Where an area has heavy competing stock and thin transacted evidence, a valuation can come in below your purchase price and the gap has to be funded in cash. That side is covered in loans and valuation on older property.
How to look up the overhang in your own district (free, no login)
National and state figures are in the PDFs. District-level figures, price band within a district, and even parliamentary and state-seat figures exist only in NAPIC’s free Data Visualisation portal — they are not in the PDF. Neither route requires a login or registration.
- Step 1: download the Property Market Status ReportThis is the overhang report — Property Market Status Report H1 2026 (BM: Laporan Status Pasaran Harta Tanah H1 2026). Direct PDF, or go through the archive page for past editions. The three definitions and the national and state figures are all inside it.
- Step 2: if you only want the overview, read the four-page press releaseThe Press Release for the Property Market Report H1 2026 runs to four pages and is the best starting point for a non-specialist. The full Property Market Report H1 2026 is over 30 MB — don’t open it on mobile data.
- Step 3: for district figures, go to the Property Status category in Data VisualisationThis page — the /en/ in the URL is required, the bare path 404s — lists nine items. You want Property Market Status Table by District, and Property Market Status Table by District & Price Range, which is the only place to get a price-band split inside one district.
- Step 4: go finer with the constituency viewThe same category carries Residential Property Market Status by Parliament/Dun, broken down by parliamentary and state seat. That is the finest geography NAPIC publishes free.
- Step 5: Johor buyers, add the regional reportThe Southern Region Property Market Report H1 2026 (Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan) carries Johor’s three unsold categories, its completions and starts, and its serviced apartment and SOHO supply.
- Step 6: set the official figure against listings you count yourselfWrite down the unit count for your district and product type together with its period (“H1 2026, as at 30 June 2026”). Then count the live rental and resale listings for the same layout in the same block, and how long each has been up. The official figure gives you the backdrop; the listings give you today.
- Every figure you copy carries its period (“H1 2026”) and the report name
- Be clear whether you copied overhang (completed), unsold under construction or unsold not constructed
- Be clear whether it is residential or serviced apartment — counted separately, never added
- Supply figures (existing / incoming / planned) are not unsold stock — never mix the two
- District level and district-by-price-range come from the portal, not the PDF
- Where two reports give different figures for the same thing, name the report — do not average them
Related questions
What is the difference between overhang and unsold under construction?
Different category and a different clock. Overhang is completed stock with a CCC, unsold more than nine months after launch. Unsold under construction is stock still being built, launched for sale, and unsold more than nine months from the first SPA signed in that project or launch phase. In H1 2026 there were 58,611 residential units unsold under construction, well over the 33,094 in overhang — and that stock will complete and arrive. For how buying off-plan works, see the new-property SPA, Schedule G and H.
Are overhang units at risk of becoming abandoned projects?
These are two separate things. The overhang definition requires the unit to be completed and issued with a CCC — the building is finished, it simply has not sold. An abandoned project is one where construction has stopped and buyers cannot get their keys; that is handled by the housing ministry (KPKT), not by NAPIC’s overhang statistics. The only overlap is that one developer can have both problems, which is why you check the developer first: see how to check a developer’s background and abandoned housing projects.
How often is NAPIC's overhang data updated?
The observable cadence is half-yearly: the H1 2026 edition, covering the position as at 30 June 2026, was released on 10 September 2026 — about two and a half months after the cut-off. When the next edition lands I cannot say: NAPIC publishes no release calendar I could verify, so this page gives no date. At the time of this check, the publication index showed nothing for Q3 2026 or H2 2026. To know whether something newer exists, open NAPIC’s Latest Publication index yourself rather than relying on a summary.
Should I buy subsale instead in a district with heavy overhang?
Not automatically, and the two decisions should be made separately. A developer’s completed unsold units chase the same buyers and tenants as a subsale unit, and a developer can offer terms a private seller cannot — but subsale has its own advantages: you see the actual unit, there are transacted records, and there is no wait. Do not settle this on a national or state overhang figure; use the figure for your district and product type, plus the live listings in the block. The full comparison is in new versus subsale property.
Frequently asked questions
What does property overhang mean in Malaysia?
It is NAPIC’s statistical definition, not a figure of speech: units that are completed, issued with a Certificate of Compliance and Completion (CCC), launched for sale on or after 1 January 1997, and still unsold more than nine months after that launch. NAPIC’s definition covers residential units, retail shops and industrial units, so the widely quoted 33,094 is the residential slice. The other two categories are unsold under construction and unsold not constructed, and their nine months runs from the first SPA signed in that project or phase, not from a unit’s launch.
How is overhang different from vacancy, or from just selling slowly?
Three different things. Overhang is a developer’s finished units, launched more than nine months ago and still unsold. Vacancy is stock that has been sold but nobody lives in — and NAPIC publishes no residential vacancy rate, so any “Malaysia’s vacancy rate is X%” claim needs a source you can check. Selling slowly has no definition and is not a statistical category at all. One more distinction: overhang counts only developers’ new units, not homes listed by owners on the subsale market.
Is Johor oversupplied?
Johor’s residential overhang was 4,222 units in H1 2026 — the largest of any state, 12.8% of the national total — but Selangor at 4,185 and Perak at 4,075 are almost level, a spread of under 150 units. In the same release Johor’s prices rose 3.6% year-on-year, the fastest of the major states, while its residential transaction volume fell 15.1%. Johor also has 5,879 units unsold under construction and 2,788 unsold not constructed. Johor’s serviced-apartment overhang is not published, so don’t infer it from the national 23,375.
Why are serviced apartments not included in the 33,094?
Because of how they are classified. Serviced apartments sit in NAPIC’s commercial sub-sector, not residential, so they are counted separately: 23,375 unsold completed units worth RM16.28 billion in H1 2026, up 30.7% in volume and 12.8% in value year-on-year. For a combined figure write “33,094 homes plus 23,375 serviced apartments” rather than summing them and attributing the total to NAPIC, which publishes no such total. They also tell opposite stories: 37.3% of residential overhang is priced at RM300,000 and below, while 55.2% of serviced apartments are RM500,000 to RM1 million and 71.1% have sat 6 to 10 years.
Does high overhang mean resale prices and rents will fall?
The data does not support that step. In H1 2026 Johor had the largest overhang of any state and its house price index rose 3.6% year-on-year. What overhang does tell you is how much completed stock of your product type competes for the same buyers, which price bands it sits in, and how long it has been sitting. What it cannot tell you is your own block’s resale price or rent — Malaysia has no official residential rental index. For your own block, counting live listings and how long they have sat is far more useful than a national total.
How do I check the overhang in my own area?
National and state figures are in NAPIC’s Property Market Status Report H1 2026 (BM: Laporan Status Pasaran Harta Tanah), free to download. District figures are not in the PDF: use the free Data Visualisation portal, Property Status category, and open Property Market Status Table by District and Property Market Status Table by District & Price Range — the second is the only place to get a price-band split within one district. Finer still, Residential Property Market Status by Parliament/Dun breaks it down by constituency. Johor buyers should also open the Southern Region Property Market Report H1 2026.
Why does one report say overhang rose 8.6% and another 23%?
Different bases, and both are correct. National residential overhang was 33,094 units as at 30 June 2026. NAPIC’s report compares that with a year earlier (H1 2025: 26,911 units, RM16.44 billion), giving +23.0% in volume and +8.2% in value. Several outlets compare it with the end-2025 position of 30,471 units: 33,094 ÷ 30,471 = +8.6%. Use 23.0% for a year-on-year comparison and 8.6% for the half year. Separately, Bernama labels the 30,471 figure “H1 2025”, which contradicts NAPIC’s own report — that label is an error.
Sources & verification
- NAPIC / JPPH — Property Market Status Report H1 2026 (the overhang report; definitions in Section 1.2, PDF)
- NAPIC / JPPH — Property Market Status Report archive (all past editions)
- NAPIC / JPPH — Southern Region Property Market Report H1 2026 (the Johor report, PDF)
- NAPIC / JPPH — Press Release, Property Market Report H1 2026, 10 September 2026 (PDF, 4 pages)
- NAPIC / JPPH — Property Market Report H1 2026 (PDF, over 30 MB)
- NAPIC / JPPH — Malaysian House Price Index Q1–Q2 2026P (PDF)
- NAPIC / JPPH — Data Visualisation portal, Property Status category (district-level tables)
- NAPIC / JPPH — Data Visualisation portal (home)
- NAPIC / JPPH — Latest Publication index
- Bernama, 10 September 2026 — NAPIC H1 2026 launch report
- The Edge Malaysia, 14 September 2026 — unsold completed homes H1 2026
- Malay Mail, 23 September 2026 — Rehda Property Industry Survey 1H 2026
- The Star, 24 September 2026 — Rehda survey, 1H 2027 outlook
Verified: 2026-09-20. This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and rates change — confirm in writing with your lawyer, bank or the relevant authority before you sign.
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Louis Koh
11 years in Malaysian property · Johor Bahru & Kuala Lumpur · English & 中文
I help local buyers and cross-border buyers from Singapore with new and subsale property. Every figure in these guides is sourced; when a rule changes, I update the page and date it.
Stuck on this step? Ask me directly
Send me your situation — new or subsale, budget, state, and where you are in the process — and I will tell you what to do next and what to watch for.
I will look up the NAPIC district-level overhang figures for any district you name – by product type and price band, with the period and report title attached – and add the current count of rental and resale listings, and how long each has been up, in the specific blocks you are considering.
Louis Koh · 11 years in Malaysian property · +60 10-906 6685 · replies 9am–10pm MYT