The Penang State Government is now setting a new target to provide 220,000 units of affordable housing by 2030.

Penang Local Government, Housing Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said, previously the State Government set a target to provide 180,000 units of affordable housing as part of  vision Penang 2030.

“However, two weeks ago I submitted a proposal in the Exco meeting to add another 20 percent or 40,000 units of affordable housing and it was agreed to address the increased demand from those affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

“And it is the priority of the State Government to provide adequate affordable housing of various types for the people in this state,” he said at a press conference in Komtar on 5 October 2020.

Also present were Senior Assistant Secretary (Housing), ‘Ainul Fadhilah Samsudi and representatives of the Penang Development Corporation (PDC).

According to Jagdeep, to date a total of 106,742 units of affordable housing are available at various categories.

“Of the total, 34,388 units have been completed; 20,180 units are under construction and 52,174 units have been approved for construction.

“(And) of the total as well, a total of 26,616 units are affordable houses (RMM) Type A; 26,995 (Type B) and 53,131 (Type C) with prices offered at RM42,000, RM72,500 and below RM300,000 respectively.

“The 20 percent increase will also include houses with price from RM42,000 to RM300,000,” he said.

Commenting further, Jagdeep who is also the Chairman of the Selection Process Enhancement Committee (SPEC) informed that the committee has approved a total of 54,138 housing applications.

Since its establishment in 2013, this committee has met 58 times where all committee members consisting of Exco, State Assemblyman (ADUN), Member of Parliament (MP) and Housing Division.

“Of the 54,138 applications that have been approved, a total of 25,913 applications are for RMM Type A; 10,930 (RMM Type B), 16,683 (RMM Type C) and Rent-To-Own (RTO) of 612 units.

 

“Only truly qualified applicants will be given affordable housing units and this committee will continue to screen and recommend waiting lists until no more waiting lists are reported,” he said.

Speaking about the waiting list, Jagdeep said that there was previously a list of applicants since 1976.

“To recognize the effectiveness of this committee, I am glad to announce that there is no waiting list for RMM Type A in the Seberang Perai Tengah (SPT) district for the quota of all races.

Meanwhile, for the Southwest and North Seberang Perai (SPU) districts, there is no waiting list for Chinese and Indian quotas.

“As for RMM Type B, the Southwest and SPU areas are reported to have no waiting lists for Chinese and Indian quotas.

“And for RMM Type C, all districts are reported to be given offers according to the project applied for by the applicants.”

“Since there are already locations that no longer have a waiting list, the houses will be offered to the eligible applicants according to the current demand and supply. ”

“For the Northeast district, the demand is very high but supply is very limited due to high population density with limited land to be developed.

Source: Buletin Mutiara

 

The Federal Court today ruled that management corporation bodies of residential strata buildings, through their own house rules, can prohibit short-term rental of residential units in their buildings.

A three-member bench, chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, said even if the state authority permitted the use of the land for commercial purposes, such use was still subject to other laws in force such as the Strata Management Act 2013.

“Hence, the passing of the house rules is not unlawful,” she said in affirming the decisions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal in dismissing an appeal by four appellants.

Sitting with Tengku Maimun were Rohana Yusof and Mohd Zawawi Salleh.

Court Case: Verve Suites Mont Kiara passed a by-law to stop short-term rentals

In this case, Verve Suites Mont Kiara Management Corporations passed a by-law to stop short-term rentals because residents complained that guests in such arrangements were a nuisance and a breach of its by-laws.

This resulted in Verve Suites filing a suit in the High Court in 2018 against Innab Salil, Innab Trade Sdn Bhd, Ng Gaik Kian and Tan Why Chuan.

Earlier, the Commissioner of Building Kuala Lumpur had issued a circular instructing all joint management bodies to curb the prevailing use of buildings in and around the city for short-term rental.

Following the circular, Verve Suites Mont Kiara held an extraordinary general meeting, proposing to enact “House Rule No. 3”, which essentially prohibited the use of apartments for short-term rentals.

It said any stay for which a booking was made through services, phone apps and websites such as Airbnb, booking.com, agoda.com and klsuites.com would fall under the prohibited short-term rentals.

It said any unit owner who infringed the rule should also pay a fine.

House Rule 3 was passed with an overwhelming majority and the residents were duly notified.

Verve Suites, represented by lawyer Shahbudin Syed Alaudin, was awarded RM50,000 in costs. Counsel Manpal Singh Sachdev appeared for the four defendants.

Source: Free Malaysia Today

UEM Sunrise Bhd, one of the largest property developers in Malaysia, has received a letter from its shareholder proposing a merger with peer Eco World Development Group Bhd, the company said on Monday.

Its major shareholder UEM Group, in a letter on Friday asked for UEM Sunrise and Eco World to “consider the merits of a proposed merger and to commence discussions”.

“Given subdued macro-economic conditions and market headwinds, we believe that there is a pressing need for industry players to consolidate resources and capabilities to strengthen performance and sustainability,“ the letter said.

UEM Group is wholly-owned by Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, which Refinitiv data shows owns 66.06% in UEM Sunrise.

Eco World also said in an exchange filing that it received a letter from UEM Group proposing the merger with UEM Sunrise. UEM Group does not own any stake in the company.

UEM Sunrise shares rose 12.5% in early trade, while Eco World shares surged 10.13%.

The proposed merger would be carried out via an exchange of shares and warrants in Eco World for new shares and warrants in UEM Sunrise.

If completed, Eco World would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of UEM Sunrise and will be delisted.

Eco World’s projects in Penang

Source: TheSunDaily.my

 

Sungai Pinang residents and those staying around the Karpal Singh Drive have additional joy when the ground-breaking ceremony of a three-acre neighbourhood park was launched at Lebuh Sungai Pinang 7 as part of a green project by the state today.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who planted a Malayana sapling at the site during the ground-breaking ceremony, said the park would enable the residents there to enjoy its recreational facilities.

“The purpose of this project is to turn open space into an urban neighbourhood park equipped with various leisure facilities.

“This is one of the state government’s efforts to increase recreational facilities in urban areas with limited space and land.

“Until today, 69 neighbourhood parks have been built in the northeast district,” Chow said in his speech after being given the honour to officiate the ground-breaking ceremony.

 

Looking back, he said the state government has started the initiative to transform Penang into a cleaner, greener and safer state some 10 years ago.

Chow praised the Penang Stadium Corporation and Open Spaces (SCOS) for coming up with its pilot project at the Lebuh Sungai Pinang 7 since its formation this year.

He expressed hopes that when the project is ready by July 2021, including 100 car parks, the park is given a suitable name after getting input and that the place would become an attraction.

Chow added that one of the nine components that would be incorporated into the project is the planting of some native Penang trees.

Among other components that would be featured are a Forest Pavilion and Slide, Silver Garden and a Butterfly Garden.

Discussion on the setting up of the neighbourhood park at Lebuh Sungai Pinang 7 actually started on Nov 3 last year with state Sports and Youth Committee chairman Soon Lip Chee and Sungai Pinang assemblyman Lim Siew Khim meeting with Penang SCOS, Penang Island City Council, Penang Women’s Development Corporation and the local residents for feedback and appropriate actions to be taken.

Soon said the state government is committed to providing recreational and sports facilities to meet and improve the quality of life of the people of Penang.

He said on behalf of Penang SCOS, he thanked the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) for supporting the project and donating some native Penang trees such as Jelutong tree, Gelugor tree, Ara tree and Penaga Laut tree.

He commended FRIM head of ecotourism and urban forestry programme Dr Noor Azlin Yahya for her assistance and Penang SCOS executive director Mohamed Akbar Mustapha and team for making the project a success.

Lim said the park is built for the benefit of the society and she hopes the residents would take care of its facilities.

“The theme of this park is ‘Our Kampong, Our Pride’. The setting up of this park is also in line with the Penang2030 vision to make the state a ‘Family-Focused Green and Smart State that Inspires the Nation, ” she said in her speech.

Jelutong MP R.S.N. Rayer, who was also present, said with a number of apartments and flats in the area, the park is certainly a special recreational place for children and senior citizens.

He also advised the people to follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) in view of the rising cases of Covid-19.

Source: Buletin Mutiara

LOCATION

The unreleased Bumiputera lots contribute to about 40% to 50% of the country’s overhang numbers, according to Real Estate & Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) Malaysia president Datuk Soam Heng Choon.

Many completed houses in certain states were unsold because the state governments do not want to release the Bumiputera lots.

“For example, Johor has a 40% Bumiputera quota. Assuming the developer sold 10% of the quota, it still has 30% unsold, and the overhang units get accumulated over time,” he said at the Home Ownership Campaign—Malaysia Property Expo October 2020 press conference yesterday.

The National Property Information Centre’s (Napic) Property Market Status Report for the first half of 2020 (1H20) showed there were 31,661 overhang residential units worth RM20.03 billion, an increase by 3.3% in volume and 6.4% in value from the 30,664 units worth RM18.82 billion recorded in 2H19.

Johor retained the highest number and value of residential overhang in the country with 6,166 units worth RM4.74 billion, accounting to 19.5% and 23.7% respectively of the national total in the period.

It also maintained its reign as the highest serviced apartment overhang state in 1H20 with 73.7% share in volume (15,986 units) and 76.7% share in value (RM14.67 billion), with almost all of these overhang units were in Johor Baru district.

The overhang in the serviced apartment subsector continues to rise and form the bulk of commercial property overhang, recording a total of 21,683 units valued at RM18.64 billion, up by 26.5% in volume and 24% in value against 17,142 units worth RM15.04 billion recorded in the June to December 2019 period.

“Everybody needs to play their roles in trying to resolve this issue. The state government controls the release of unsold Bumi lots, so the state government needs to come in and help the situation. As for government agencies, please don’t build houses in lousy locations,” Soam said.

He added that the divergence between location, type of property and prices contribute to the high overhang number as well.

He said the right product with the right pricing but built at a wrong location could not attract buyers.

Likewise, a wrong product and pricing at the right location would contribute to the mismatch in demand and supply.

By type, Napic said, condominium/apartment formed 51.4% (16,274 units) of the national’s overhang, followed by terraced (29% at 9,187 units) in 1H20.

By price, property between RM200,000 and RM300,000 (6,151 units) formed 19.4% of the unsold units, those priced in the RM300,000-RM400,000 range (4,128 units) accounted for 13% of the unsold stock and units priced above RM1 million (3,966 units) formed 12.5% of the total residential overhang in the period.

Source: TheMalaysiaReserve.com