Sapphire, a small residential development by Seal Properties Sdn. Bhd. in Batu Maung, Penang. Located along Jalan Batu Maung, accessible via Lorong Batu Nilam 1. It is adjacent to Sunway Mutiara scheme, only 2km away from Penang Second Bridge.

This development comprises 14 units of 3-storey semi-detached and terrace houses.

Project Name : Sapphire
Location : Batu Maung, Penang
Property Type : 3-Storey Semi-Detached & Terrace
Land Area: 1,905 sq.ft. (terrace), 2,511 sq.ft. (semi-d)
Built-up Area: 3,415 sq.ft. (terrace),  4,284 sq.ft. (semi-d)
Total Units: 14 (semi-d), 14 (terrace)
Tenure : Freehold
Indicative Price: RM1,900,000 onwards
Developer : Seal Properties Sdn. Bhd.

Location Map:

While we are excited to keep you updated with more development news in 2016, let’s take a look at the 5 most popular projects in previous year. These projects are ranked based on page views recorded in 2015.

1. The Tamarind (95,200 views)

Freehold executive apartments by E&O Property at Seri Tanjung Pinang, Penang. Located along Jalan Seri Tanjung Pinang 1, within walking distance to Straits Quay and Tesco. It was first published on 2nd December 2014 and has been popular since then.

This project has recorded a whopping 95,200 page views and received 2,196 comments in 2015.

2. Ramah Pavilion (76,570 views)

Affordable housing development by M Summit Group in Teluk Kumbar, Penang. It is located next to Puspakom Teluk Kumbar, comprising 759 affordable units in two blocks of 36 & 38-storey building. This project was first published in September 2014, and was viewed 75,570 times last year. Is has also received a total of 1,329 comments in 2015.

3. One Foresta (70,073 views)

The first i-Condo affordable housing by Ideal Property Group in Bayan Lepas, Penang. It is strategically located along Lengkok Kelicap, only a few minutes away from Penang Internation Airport, It is just a stone’s throw away from Setia Pearl Island housing scheme.

The residential component comprises 4 blocks of 41 and 42-storey towers with a total of 2,334 affording housing units. Each unit will have a built-up area of 900 sq.ft. and comes with 3 bedrooms.

4. TRI Pinnacle (56,378 views)

Affordable homes located at Jalan Persiaran Halia 3 at Mount Erskine. The first of its kind by Aspen Group that create a high quality affordable housing development and help to enhance the surrounding area to provide the residents with a well conceptualized, modern, airy environment to live, relax and work!

This is one of the first private-initiated affordable housing project in Penang. Standard unit price starts from RM299,000, with option to upgrade it with full IKEA furnishing.

5. The Clovers (46,729 views)

Freehold residential development by Asia Green Development. Strategically located within the established township of Sungai Ara, few minutes away from the Penang International Airport, factories, Queensbay mall and etc. It comprises 892 units with size ranging from 699 sq.ft. onward, 180 units of which are categorized under affordable housing.

The Clovers and its affordable units have registered a combined page views of 46,729 in 2015.

Traffic Summary for 2015

Thank you for the confidence that you have placed in us and your continued support. PenangPropertyTalk.com has served more than half a million unique visitors (users) last year and recorded a total of 1.61 million visits (sessions) with 3.57 million page views in 2015.

2015 web traffic summary by Google Analytic

READ MORE: Penang Property Outlook 2016

Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG), the main contractor for the RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel project in Penang, will commence the construction on June 15, slightly later than its original schedule.

The construction of the mega project is expected to begin in the first quarter of this year.

CZBUCG chairman Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli said the consortium will first begin construction of the three highways, which form part of the project, before embarking on building the 7.2km undersea tunnel linking Penang island to the mainland.

The three road projects are the paired-road from Jalan Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang, the Air Itam to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway bypass and the bypass from Gurney Drive to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway, which have a combined length of 21.2km.

Zarul said the consortium is currently waiting for the Penang state government to conduct an independent environmental assessment of the three road packages.

“What is pending now is that the state government is going to appoint an independent environmental consultant to look at it (the road projects), and to get approval from the Department of Environment (DoE) for the three highways,” he told The Edge Financial Daily in an interview last week.

“It will not take long because the DoE has already given us the go-ahead, but we have to get the state’s independent environmental consultant’s assessment, and submit with the preliminary environmental impact assessment (EIA), to get a formal approval,” Zarul explained.

He said the environmental assessment of the three highways can be done relatively faster than for the undersea tunnel, which would take up to 18 months.

“Unlike the undersea tunnel, where there are more environmental concerns, the DoE has already given us a letter for the three highways, which stated that we only need a preliminary-EIA to start construction,” Zarul added.

As the highways would take about six years to complete, Zarul estimates that CZBUCG would begin the EIA application for the undersea tunnel by 2017 or 2018.

“We probably would start (construction on) the undersea tunnel by 2021.

“We have to complete the three highways first. Otherwise, traffic volume from the tunnel would have no channel to disperse,” he said, adding that construction of the tunnel would take up to two years to complete.

CZBUCG was awarded the RM6.3 billion integrated road transport project on Oct 6, 2013 by the Penang government. In return for building the infrastructure, the state government will compensate CZBUCG with 110 acres of freehold reclaimed land at Tanjung Pinang.

After the completion of the three highways, Zarul said CZBUCG will claim about 50 acres of the said land from the state government.

“We will claim the land from the state government every time we achieve a certain milestone in the construction, which commensurates with the value of the land,” he said.

The consortium has appointed China Railway Construction Corp Ltd (CRCC) as its engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for the project, on favourable terms.

Under the partnership with CRCC, Zarul said the Chinese company will only get paid after the land parcels claimed from the state government are monetised.

CZBUCG has formed two joint ventures (JVs) with public-listed precision sheet metal manufacturer-cum-property developer Ewein Bhd.

After securing the land parcels from the state government, CZBUCG will dispose of them to these JVs (it owns 40% stakes in both entities) to monetise the properties and pay the construction fees to CRCC.

Moving forward, Zarul said CZBUCG may consider lowering its stake in the JVs to 20% each, in order to reduce the consortium’s capital expenditure.

“When we start construction, we need more cash, so probably we would reduce our stake to 20%,” he said.

So far, Zarul said the project has incurred expenditure of about RM160 million.

A check with the Companies Commission of Malaysia showed that the shareholders’ structure in CZBUCG has been updated to 98.10% owned by Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd, with the remaining held by Juteras Sdn Bhd (1.89%) and Beijing Urban Construction Group Co Ltd (0.01%).

Source: TheEdgeProperty.com.my

Looking at the Penang property market, all property transactions in the state saw fluctuations throughout the whole 2014 before it dipped in 2015. The first quarter of 2014 recorded a total 6,416 transactions (valued at RM3.78 billion). It increased to 6,513 transactions valued at RM3.44 billion in the second quarter. It dropped to 5,757 transactions valued at RM3.15 billion in the third quarter and increased to 6,865 transactions valued at RM3.40 billion in the fourth quarter.

The number of transactions dropped to 5,637 units (RM3.58 billion) in the first quarter of 2015 before it continues to drop to 5,564 transactions (RM2.84 billion) and 5,060 transactions (RM2.39 billion) in the second and third quarter respectively

If we look at residential property transactions, particularly the primary and secondary market, the secondary market also leads the overall residential property market. In the first half of 2014, a total 1,841 primary properties were transacted as opposed to 7,182 secondary properties, bringing the total residential properties transacted to 9,023 units value at RM3.77 billion. The second half of 2014 saw a slight increase in the primary market to 2,254 units while the secondary market remains at 7,133 units. The total value of transactions for the second half of 2014 was RM3.81 billion.

Geh noted that the unnatural withholding of Advertising Permit and Developers Licence (APDL) has also affected the primary market in the first half of 2015 to see the drop in transactions for the market to 1,418 units valued at RM0.59 billion out of a total 7,743 units being the total (valued at a total RM3.14 billion) transacted.

The secondary market saw 6,325 units transacted with estimated value of RM2.55 billion.

This year also saw the approvals of development plans for over 7,000 units of affordably priced housing hovering at prices between RM300,000 and RM400,000.

“This augers well for a market where the primary market of 1,200 sq ft apartments are selling at RM700,000 to RM800,000 in 2014 just the year before,” he said.

He said 2016 will see a plethora of affordable apartments available in the market and awaiting APDL to be obtained.

Once the APDL is issued, then the due process of Sales & Purchase Agreements can be signed and the end financing process for the purchases can begin.

He pointed out that such a large number of units available for sale in the market will drive the overall index prices down.

“We expect to see about 7,600 transactions for the second half of 2015 with a value of RM3.7 billion and making the total 2015 transaction to 6.8 Billion,” Geh said.

As for the first half of 2016, he forecasted that Penang will see a total 7,500 residential units transacted worth of RM2.7 billion. He forecasted that the primary market will record about 1,200 transactions with the estimated value of RM500 million while the number of secondary property transactions will hover at 6,300 units with a total transaction value of RM2.2 billion for the first half of 2016.

*Micheal Geh is a Chartered Surveyor & International Real Estate Agent. He is a member of the Financial Planning Association of Malaysia with the Certified Financial Planner designation; National Association of Realtors USA with the Certified International Property Specialist designation; and a Board Member of FIABCI, the International Real Estate Federation. He is also a senior partner of Raine & Horne International Zaki + Partners Sdn Bhd.

The Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Associa-tion (Rehda) Penang has been urged to play a bigger role in helping local developers obtain the advertising permit and developer licence (APDL) for their projects.

It was reported in The Star that 47 out of 81 applications for the licence for state government and private projects submitted from August 2014 had yet to be approved.

State Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said Rehda should pursue the matter with the Federal Government and if necessary, file a law suit.

“Treat it as a test case and if you win, I’m sure the Federal Govern-ment will issue the APDLs because it does not want to be burdened with lawsuits and legal costs.

“The state can only make its views known,” he told a press conference in Jalan Kuantan yesterday.

Rehda (Penang) chairman Datuk Jerry Chan when contacted said they could not sue at the branch level and he did not agree to such a drastic step.

“Anyway, the matter has been brought up to Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan by our national president and myself in November.

“He has agreed to approve some of the applications which we brought up to him,” he said,

Chan added that the Federal Government was not happy with the state over some of its projects that were not approved.

“It is up to the state and Federal Government to resolve the matter and it is unfair that the private sector has been penalised for this.”

On a related matter, Jagdeep announced that most of the APDL for the state government’s affordable housing project in Jalan SP Chelliah had been approved.

“We’ve obtained the APDLs for the RM200,000 and RM300,000 affordable housing and RM72,500 low medium-cost projects. We’re just waiting for the APDL for the RM400,000 affordable housing.”

He suggested that the property developers’ association, and not just Rehda, come up with a property fair for affordable housing.

“I’m going to organise an affordable housing property fair for the first time soon because out of nearly 70,000 residential property transactions from 2012 till last year, 80% were in the affordable housing range,” he said.

Source: TheStar.com.my