Busy, busy: A file photo of the crowd checking out a booth at the Star Property Fair 2014 at Queensbay Mall in Penang.

Choice projects under one roof

The Star Property Fair is back for the third time this year, and with over 30 exhibitors showcasing choice properties, it will be the biggest held at Queensbay Mall, Penang.

Starting today and running until Sunday, it is spread across the mall’s North, South and Centre Atriums, as well as the Lower Ground Floor, and open from 10.30am to 10.30pm daily.

First-time homeowners, upgraders or discerning investors will be spoilt for choice at the northern region’s premier one-stop property showcase as there are options aplenty both locally and abroad.

The projects range from luxurious landed and high-rise residences to integrated developments, retail and office spaces, affordable homes, investment schemes, and more. Each offers unique lifestyle concepts and distinct features.

Major exhibitors include Eco World Development Group Bhd, BSG Property, Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd, Mah Sing Group, UEM Sunrise Berhad, Sunway Berhad, Seni Bahagia Sdn Bhd, BDB Land Sdn Bhd and Asia Green Group.

Also making their presence felt are Nusmetro City Sdn Bhd, GSV Development Sdn Bhd, Reka Indah Development (PG) Sdn Bhd, Ideal Property Group, Tropicana Ivory Sdn Bhd, Putra Nilai Development Sdn Bhd, Tropicana Corporation Berhad and IOI Properties Group Berhad.

The list continues with Aroma Development Sdn Bhd, OSK Properties Sdn Bhd, Trimension Properties Group, Thriven, Tambun Indah Land Sdn Bhd, Southeast Asia Landmark, Atlantic Blue Sdn Bhd (Solarvest), Packet One Networks (P1-4G) and PTPTN.

Completing the 36 lots are Bionic Land Berhad, Kinta Berkat Sdn Bhd, GIC Great Investor Club, Metrio Group of Companies, Tropicana Indah Sdn Bhd and FORT.

Visitors will be able to obtain project details directly from developers, and get a feel of the actual developments through realistic scale models. And best yet, there are fantastic rebates and promotional packages.

Besides the wide selection of properties, there will also be talks and forums conducted by industry specialists to provide useful information and updates on property investment, financing and related topics throughout the four-day fair.

Not-to-be-missed sessions include ‘Market Outlook 2015: Investing In Uncertain Times’ by Leon Lee, ‘Demand Driven Property Investment’ by Dr Daniele Gambero, as well as ‘Landlord and Tenant: Agreement and Dispute Resolution’ by Lio Chee Yeong.

Also, make a date for talks titled ‘Mortgage Insurance: Should I Buy?’ by Elane Goh, ‘Maximise Your Property Profits Through Financing’ by Vince Chia, ‘How You Can Be The Next 9 To 5 Property Millionaire’ by B.K. Khoo, and ‘How To Minimise Tax in Property Investment’ by Richard Oon.

Equally informative are ‘How To Get Your Loan Approved’ by Miichael Yeoh, ‘The Mindset of a Savvy Investor’ by Alexander Woo and talks on feng shui by renown masters like David Koh, Prof Joe Choo, Mak Foo Wengg and Soon Gim Horng.

Visitors to the fair also stand a chance to win one of the many amazing prizes, worth over RM100,000, in the Spin & Win contest.

To participate, simply purchase a copy of The Star, cut out the contest coupon, fill in your personal particulars, answer a simple question correctly and redeem it for a spin on the wheel. This year, there will be two contest booths to cater to the expected crowd.

Among the main prizes up for grabs are Samsung Note 5 (four units), Samsung Galaxy Core Prime (four units), Samsung Tab 8 (four units), Samsung Tab 3V (four units) and Parkson shopping vouchers.

Every participant is guaranteed to take something home with an abundance of other fantastic prizes like Global Positioning System (GPS) units, perfumes, watches, vitamins, Crabtree & Evelyn products and many more.

Visitors who sign up for properties during the four-day fair stand to win some of the prizes as they will also get a go at the wheel.

For further details or enquiries, kindly call Maggie Ang at 04-6473388 (Ext 3023).

Admission to the fair is free.

Source: TheStar.com.my

The first phase of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), involving the construction of the LRT project,” is scheduled to take off in the first half of 2017.

State local government, traffic management, and flood mitigation committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the design and the alignment of the LRT would be finalised next year.

He was stressing on the issue during the Penang Master Builders & Materials Dealers Association (PMBBMDA) 138th anniversary celebration.

Chow said the Gamuda-led SRS Consortium would submit the plan which included the reclamation aspects of the project to the local authorities for approval.

“The consortium would also be applying to the Federal authorities for the licence to do the LRT in Penang.

“No licence means the LRT project will not take off,” he said.

The SRS Consortium is a triumvirate joint venture of Gamuda Berhad, Ideal Property Development Sdn Bhd and Loh Phoy Yen Holdings Sdn, appointed as the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) for the RM27bil Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) projects.

On the request from PMBBMDA to obtain jobs to be generated from the PTMP implementation, Chow said he would arrange a dialogue between SRS Consortium and PMBBMDA on the matter.

The PTMP is a massive effort to create new road networks, improve present carriageways and the pedestrian ecosystem.

This also includes significantly upgrading the public transport system by introducing new transport options including trams, a mass rapid transit (MRT) system and water taxis.

Source: TheStar.com.my

A proposed low-rise residential development by MTT Properties & Development Sdn. Bhd. This is part of the company’s Botanica.CT township development in Balik Pulau, situated on the south west region of Penang Island. The township is about 17 km from the Penang International Airport and 25 km from Georgetown

The proposed development is located along Jalan Sungai Air Putih 8 (map shows approximate location), comprises 3 blocks of 4-storey building with a total of 74 residential units.

This project is still pending for approval. Details to be available upon project launch.

Property Project : (to be confirmed)
Location : Botanica.CT, Balik Pulau, Penang
Property Type : 4-storey residential
Tenure : Freehold
Indicative Price: (to be confirmed)
Total Units : 74
Developer : MTT Properties & Development Sdn Bhd,

Exco man: Other affordable housing concepts not suitable

Penang will not emulate Singapore or Hong Kong in its bid to provide affordable housing to the people, said state Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo.

He said: “I do not want to be like Hong Kong or Singapore. There is a way to do it and I will teach them (developers) to do it the ‘Penang way’.

“We have our way of doing it without impacting the environment or making it more congested.

“Hong Kong’s development can go up to 300m high on hills but here we do not allow more than 76m high to take care of the greenery and hills.”

He was responding to a report in a Chinese daily, which said that developers had suggested to emulate Singapore’s shoebox units or Hong Kong’s micro apartment concept in the urban area with the support of infrastructure.

“Housing is not alone as it includes infrastructure. With the installation of the RM27bil Penang Transport Master Plan, it will open up many possibilities,” Jagdeep said on Saturday in Taman Free School.

He added that the most important issue now was to provide affordable housing and the developer should not ‘run away’ from doing it.

“Developers shouldn’t build all expensive units to make money.

“The reason why we are studying the possibility of an increase of density is because we want more affordable housing.

“No one is going to build cheaper houses if you want them to build the same number of units as expensive houses.

“However, we do not want the density to be too high or the price too expensive. It’s finding the right balance that is important,” he said.

Source: TheStar.com.my

There are growing calls for Bank Negara to look into easing the stringent lending policy, especially for first-time house buyers in an effort to reduce the rising number of unsold properties in the country.

While the broad cooling or macro-prudential measures imposed on the property sector should not be lifted at the moment, some industry observers and analysts opined that the central bank should give some leeway or flexibility to first-time home owners by relaxing the current stringent lending policy.

They said this would help ease the glut of unsold properties amid the slowing economy and external headwinds impacting consumer sentiment.

National House Buyers Association (HBA) honorary secretary-general Chang Kim Loong told StarBiz the central bank could allow a directive for banks to provide 100% financing for first-time house buyers subject to conditions. At the moment, he said, financing for properties albeit first-time home buyers was based on a case-to-case basis.

“The 100% financing should only be for affordable property category costing not more than RM300,000. Furthermore, the property that is bought should not be allowed to be sold for the first 10 years and should be for self occupation. This will assist first-time house buyers who lack capital to buy their dream home. However, this group of buyers must meet the bank’s credit requirements,’’ he added.

Chang felt the measures imposed by the central bank should be maintained as it would combat speculation in the property sector and eradicate “bogus” house buyers.

AllianceDBS Research analyst Quah He Wei agreed the stringent financing guidelines could be relaxed for certain targeted groups, especially the first-home buyers or young families with low household income to make it easier for them to obtain financing facility. He, however, believed the overall cooling measures should not be lifted as it had been effective at curbing excessive speculation in the property market.

Although the property sector on the whole is moderating, this should be viewed also as a function of high property prices.

“If developers continue to launch products at premium pricing, a slow take-up is imminent. On the other hand, we continue to see healthy demand for affordable homes despite the high loan rejection rates. Affordably priced properties at strategic locations with public transport accessibility and lifestyle amenities would still be well received, Quah said.

RAM Ratings co-head of financial institution ratings Wong Yin Ching said that despite a weaker outlook for the property market, the rating agency did not expect a relaxation of macro-prudential measures in the near term.

“We are of the view that these guidelines serve to curb excessive speculative activities while continuing to allow access to financing for eligible borrowers, particularly first-time house buyers. For instance, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio limit was only targeted at borrowers with three or more house financing and was not imposed on a broad-brush approach. The central bank’s requirement for banks to observe prudent debt-service ratios in their credit assessment to ensure sound lending practices is also viewed positively,” she added.

The current slowdown in the property market, Wong said, was not only attributed to these measures but was also reflective of the sluggish consumer sentiment and banks’ more conservative lending stance given the current challenging economic environment.

Although home loans grew by a strong 12.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) as at end-July (2015), partly due to the drawdown of previously approved loans, their approvals on the other hand had contracted by 10% year-on-year during the first seven months of this year.

Meanwhile, OCBC Bank (M) Bhd head of secured lending Thoo Mee Ling felt it might be too early to review the measures as the easing of these measures depended on several factors – state of economy, the market’s supply and demand and wage growth.

If the cooling measures are lifted too soon, there may be a push-back from consumers if asset prices continue to escalate, she said. On whether the property sector may worsen with more unsold properties this year or next year, Thoo added: “Buyers’ and investors’ sentiments have turned cautious with many adopting the “wait-and-see” approach due to the challenging economic outlook and the weakening of commodity prices.

“The implementation of the goods and services tax has also contributed to weak buyers’ sentiment. The slowdown in the property market may continue but it will not be much worse than the existing market condition.”

The Real Estate and Housing Developers Association Malaysia (Rehda) in its latest Property Industry Survey said that in the first half of this year, property sales fell 9% compared with the same period last year. For the period under review, from the 10,877 units launched of which 10,550 were residential units, only 4,373 or 40% were sold.

Double and triple-storey units sold well while apartment and condominium sales were dismal, with only 779 of the 4,259 units launched being sold.

The survey also revealed that the number of unsold units rose to 78% in the first half of this year from 64% in the first half of 2014 – a 14% increase.

Rehda president Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor attributed the bulk of unsold units to unreleased bumiputra lots and loan rejections by banks, adding that the unsold units were mostly in Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Johor. These units were mainly in the RM500,000 to RM1mil price range, he said.

Among some of the broad cooling measures which had been introduced by Bank Negara for the property sector were the 70% LTV cap on a borrower’s third and subsequent property-financing facility, lowering of the maximum tenure for property loans to 35 years from 45 years, the abolition of developers interest bearing schemes, raising of the real property gains tax and increasing the cap on foreigners buying properties to RM1mil from RM500,000.

The responsible lending guidelines have also made lending more stringent as more documentation is now needed for approval of loans and approval is based on the borrower’s net income rather than gross income.

Meanwhile, Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz in a recent news report had defended the guidelines stating that it was not fair for Rehda to blame the stricter financing rules as the reason for the drop in property sales.

Bank Negara had introduced these guidelines which had a requirement for financial institutions to make an affordability assessment, she said. “A lot of flexibilities have been given. Maybe some banks have taken it too far, but that is not the intention of our responsible lending guidelines. We continually engage with banks and are seeing healthy credit growth. We are also looking at approval and rejection rates”, Zeti said.

Source: TheStar.com.my