Property market trends are spelling happy days for property investors, but less so for house buyers.

According to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), residential property prices surged by 11.2 percent last year compared with 2011 – more than double the 10-year average – and are expected to continue to rise in the next few years.

This follows a steep climb starting from the third quarter of 2009.

"Over the next few years, the increase in new house buyers is likely to continue, exceeding average growth in housing stock.

"(This is) notwithstanding measures already announced by the government to add to new supplies, which are focused mainly on the low-to-medium priced segments," the central bank says in its annual report.

BNM said prices in the secondary property markets, particularly in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Penang, have been pushed up due to poor supply of affordable new developments.

A bulk of the new developments, it said, are priced above RM1 million, forcing 80 percent of the property transactions to take place in the secondary market.

It said that these higher priced transactions were also responsible for pushing overall prices up.

"(The growth) was driven mainly by higher prices and transactions in the detached, semi-detached and luxury high-rise property segments," the central bank said.

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