Poll to find name for Penang’s new, intelligent, satellite township

Groundbreaking of Aspen Vision City in Batu Kawan, Penang

The people will have a say in the naming of Penang’s new, intelligent, satellite township on mainland Seberang Prai.

The township is in Batu Kawan, in the southern Seberang Prai district, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.

He said state investment arm Penang Development Corporation (PDC), which owns the land in Batu Kawan, was in the process of demarcating the areas to be included in the new township.

“We expect it will take about a month for PDC to determine the areas for the new township. Once that is done, we will start an online poll so that the people can give their input on what we should name it.
“The online poll may be for two months or even six months. We will make the announcements in due time,” he told reporters after the groundbreaking of the Aspen Vision City project in Batu Kawan this morning.

Lim had recently said that there was a need for a name for the new township, which was transforming the old, quiet town of Batu Kawan. The plan had earlier caused some confusion and had met with the disapproval of researchers and historians interviewed in Chinese newspapers.

Lim said the new name would not replace the old name Batu Kawan, as the area itself would still remain apart of the new development.

“Batu Kawan will still be here as a part of this larger satellite township, which we envision will grow into a metropolis in the future,” he said, stressing that the area, where Fortune 500 companies were present, remained important to Penang’s economy.

While the actual boundaries of the new township are yet to be disclosed, Lim had previously said that the southern Seberang Prai district, which is also seeing new developments, could be included in the plan.

Aspen City Vision, a mixed development with a gross value of RM8 billion, is also expected to change the landscape of Batu Kawan.

The project is a joint venture between the Malaysian Aspen Group and Ikano Pte Ltd, which owns the Ikea franchise in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The partnership is also bringing the famous Swedish furniture retailer to Penang.

Ikea in Batu Kawan will be the brand’s first outlet in the northern region. The store is expected to be ready in 2018, along with Aspen Vision City’s phase one, Vervea, the biggest gated and guarded commercial precinct in northern Malaysia.

Aspen Group chief executive officer Datuk M. Murly said the project would change the landscape of Batu Kawan and beyond, as neighbouring areas would also benefit from the new developments.

Source: TheMalaysianInsider.com

One of the most common question asked here is the current market value of a property in Penang. Certainly, it is everyone’s dream that their property value gain a measurable appreciation.

Property market value can be interpreted very differently depending on the specific market you’re discussing. Each house is unique and its prices may varies based on the exact location, road number, house number, house direction, neighbors and etc. One’s house may be able to sell at a much higher premium than the next door just because the house number is 8. Whereas a house facing junction may have to be sold at a discounted rate.

In reality, highest and lowest transacted prices are generally viewed as alternate expressions of a market value. A buyer would usually refer to the lower transacted price as a bargain whereas the seller would choose the higher ones to close the deal.

Instead of showing statistic from NAPIC, which most of you may be familiar with; I have solicited some actual transacted data for both Island and Mainland from reliable sources. Hopefully this will shed some lights for those who has been very curious on property transacted in Penang.

*These transaction were randomly picked, thus they neither reflect highest nor lowest transacted prices.

– Ken Lim
(Founder and Principal Reviewer, PenangPropertyTalk.com)

The weakening ringgit has resulted in an increase of 20-25% in the cost of some construction materials, said the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda) president Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor.

“The cost of certain construction materials has actually gone up. For residential units, if you talk about landed properties, it (the cost) shouldn’t be higher because the majority of the construction materials would be locally sourced.

“However, if you talk about high-rises, items like lifts, escalators, precisioning and air-conditioning are still imported,” he told reporters at a press conference last Friday at the presentation of Rehda’s Property Industry Survey for the first half of 2014.

Fateh Iskandar said the cost of these imported items has increased by 20-25% as suppliers are asking to review the rates due to the weakening ringgit, despite prices being locked in six months ago.

He said any increase in prices of landed residential properties would be minimal.

“For commercial and high-rises, there will be a little bit of increase. As you can see in the survey, 67% of developers said they try to absorb whatever increase they can. It’s only when we cannot withstand the cost that the price will eventually be passed on to consumers,” he said.

Fateh Iskandar said property developers should take the opportunity to promote Malaysia’s higher end properties to foreigners as they are good buys for them in view of the weakening ringgit.

“Definitely we should promote some of our properties to foreigners because it is a good buy for them, the properties have not actually gone down in value and usually when they buy in good areas, they will actually go up. Because of the strengthening of their currencies, definitely they’ve already made some gain in terms of currency exchange,” he said.

However, he stressed that these properties to be promoted to foreign buyers are only in certain areas and of certain types, and exclude affordable homes which are meant for locals.

“I’m talking about the higher end ones that Malaysians say are a bit expensive now due to the current situation. So allow the RM2 million to RM3 million condos (to be promoted to foreigners). We should promote this. We can also probably work with the respective agencies,” he said.

Rehda immediate past president Datuk Seri Michael Yam said the various conditions imposed by various state governments on foreign buyers do not encourage foreigners to buy in Malaysia.

“Yet Malaysians are buying in Melbourne and London. For every unit we buy there, 10 local units need to be sold. I think you have to make a fair statement in the sense that, since the foreigners are restricted from buying property of certain prices, this will not impact the affordable segment of the market.

“But when the government says foreigners are pushing prices up and comes up with these sort of regulations and changes the rules, it is flip-flop.

“Foreigners are discouraged. Our properties are cheap but people still don’t buy. They still prefer to go to Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan,” he said.

Source: TheSunDaily.my

“Unreleased Bumiputera lots and loan rejections by banks are the top reasons for the unsold units,” said Rehda president Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor

The number of unsold property units in Malaysia have increased due to unreleased Bumiputera lots and loan rejections, says the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda).

The percentage increased by 14% in the first half of 2015 ended June 30, 2015 from the preceding half ended Dec 31, 2014, according to Rehda’s survey. Most of the units which were unsold were in Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Johor.

Also the Rehda Property Industry Survey for the first half of 2015, the number of unsold units rose to 78% from 64% in six months before and 57% in the first half ended June 30, 2014.

“Unreleased Bumiputera lots and loan rejections by banks are the top reasons for the unsold units,” said Rehda president Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor during a press conference on Friday.
He said the percentage of potential property buyers who had failed to secure loans had increased from 29% in the second quarter of last year to 35% during the first half this year.

Most of the loans rejected, he said, were those involving residential property priced between RM250,001 and RM500,000 and between RM700,001 to RM1mil.

Respondents of the survey were 125 property developers, who are Rehda members.

He said respondents of the survey indicated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) had increased the overall cost of doing business, as well as pushed up property prices.

He said 80% of the respondents cited a cost increase of between 3% and 5% while 67% of the respondents indicated between 3% and 5% hike in house prices due to GST.

Respondents of the survey were pessimistic about the outlook for the property market in 2H 2015, but pessimism was expected to reduce in the following six months, he said.

Source: TheStar.com.my

GUH Holdings Bhd is buying land to develop a light industrial park in Seberang Perai — a plan to cultivate future earnings growth in its property division.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, GUH Holdings said its unit GUH Realty Sdn Bhd entered into a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Leader Holdings and vendor Thow Gooi Chee to acquire the pieces of land measuring 4.9ha in Ladang Valdor, Seberang Perai Selatan, Penang, for RM22.6 million.

It said the lands, one measuring 2.61ha at RM12.08 million and the other 2.27ha at RM10.5 million, are strategically located in the southern Penang district which has seen the initiation of several government economic programmes such as the Batu Kawan Industrial Park development.

GUH Holdings believes there would be a growing demand for light industrial factories from small and medium size suppliers who would want to be located close to their customers.

“The proposed acquisitions are in line with the ongoing plan of the GUH group to increase and diversify its property land bank in strategic locations with high development value.

“The subsequent proposed development of a light industrial park is part of the GUH group’s continuous effort to increase and sustain its earnings growth in the property development segment,” it said.

It estimated that the proposed acquisition would be completed in six months.

Source: TheEdgeMarkets.com