Recently there has been many discussion about affordable housing scheme and buying your first home. So do you know exactly where are the proposed affordable housing located in Penang Island?

So far I have found six affordable housing schemes which were proposed in the island.

1. Affordable housing @ Penang Word City – Tropicana Ivory Sdn. Bhd.

Penang World City Master Plan. Location of Phase 3A is yet to be confirmed.

Project details:

Affordable housing scheme with a premium address. Tropicana Ivory is expected to roll out their Phase 3A of the Penang WorldCity development by the end of the year, following the success of Phase 1A (Tropicana Bay Residences).

Other than 473 luxury condominiums ranging from 771 sq ft to 1,403 sq ft, there will be 159 affordable units measuring between 450 sq.ft. and 650 sq.ft.

2. Ramah Pavilion @ Teluk Kumbar – M Summit Group

Project details:

Block A (38-storey)

• Level 1: Shop lots (5 units)
• Level 2-38: Affordable housing (258 units)

Block B (36-storey)

• Level 1: Shop lots (10 units)
• Level 2-11: Multi-storey car parks
• Level 2-35: Affordable housing (501 units) with recreational area at level 12 and 26

Block C (17-storey)

• Level 1: Shop lots (10 units) with hawkers’ complex
• Level 2-6: Multi-storey car parks
• Level 2-17: Low medium cost apartment (135 units), Low cost apartment (135 units)

3. Teluk Kumbar – PDC

Project details:

This development is located opposite of Puspakom in Teluk Kumbar, comprising two blocks of apartment and a multi-storey car parks.

• Block 1: Affordable housing  (348 units) with two sizes (850 sq.ft. and 1,000 sq.ft.) to choose from. unit size b, including 3 levels of multi-storey car parks and recreational area.
• Block 2: Low medium cost apartment (346 units) with two level multi-storey car parks.
• Block 3: Multi-storey car parks

4. Paya Terubong – PLB Land

Project details:

Affordable housing development by PLB Group in Taman Paya Terubong. This development will consist of 1,532 units with a build-up size of 750 sq.ft. priced at RM292,500, 4,594 units of 850 sq.ft. (RM331,500) and 1,532 units of 1,000 sq. ft. (RM390,000).

The affordable housing scheme is scheduled for completion in six years.

5. TRI Pinnacle @ Mount Erskine – Aspen Group

Project details:

This affordable housing scheme is strategically located in Mount Erskine, just a stone’s throw away from The Peak Condominium. This is going to be a 45-storey buiding, comprising 3 high-rise towers, a facilities floor, 12-storey car parks and 4 unit of shop lots.

• Tower A: 30 levels of low medium apartments (389 units)
• Tower B: 32 levels of affordable housing (511 units)
• Tower C: 31 levels of affordable housing (341 units)

Click here for the details

6. Chelliah Park City @ Georgetown – Zubicon Sdn. Bhd.

Project details:

This affordable housing scheme was announced by Penang State Government since 2013. Zubicon Sdn Bhd has been awarded the tender to build 1,900 units of affordable housing at Jalan S.P. Chelliah in Georgetown. This housing scheme comprises units with size ranging from 700 sq.ft onwards. Here are the summary of units available for each category:

Click here for more details

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) raised the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 3.25% on Thursday, the first time since May 2011 with economists expecting the rate hike to address the potential rise in financial imbalances.

Alliance Bank Malaysia chief economist, Manokaran Mottain said the hike in the OPR was a “pre-emptive measure to prevent further disproportionate risk taking as well as reducing asset price misalignments”.

“While the central bank in previous instances had preferred to make use of macro prudential tools in reducing asset price bubbles risks, the rate hike will likely deliver greater traction in averting any excessive leveraging activities,” he said.

BNM said the decision was made at its monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting as the latest economic indicators pointed to continued strength in exports and private sector activity in Malaysia. It also expected Malaysia’s overall economic growth momentum to be sustained.

“The floor and ceiling rates of the corridor for the OPR are correspondingly raised to 3.00% and 3.50% respectively,” it said. “At the new level of the OPR, the stance of monetary policy remains supportive of the economy.”

BNM said going forward, the overall growth momentum was expected to be sustained while inflation has been relatively stable.

“Exports will continue to benefit from the recovery in the advanced economies and from regional demand. Investment activity is projected to remain robust, led by the private sector.”

“Private consumption will be supported by stable income growth and favourable labour market conditions. The prospects are therefore for the Malaysian economy to remain firmly on a steady growth path,” it said.

BNM said inflation has been relatively stable as the effects of the price adjustments for utilities and energy continue to moderate. Demand driven inflation remains contained, it added.

“Looking ahead, inflation is, however, expected to remain above its long-run average due to the higher domestic cost factors.

BNM added amid the firm growth prospects and with inflation remaining above its long-run average, the monetary policy committee decided to adjust the degree of monetary accommodation.

This normalisation of monetary conditions also aims to mitigate the risk of broader economic and financial imbalances that could undermine the growth prospects of the Malaysian economy, said the central bank.

Alliance Bank’s Manokaran said the MPC’s decision to raise the OPR by 25bps was within expectation as well as market consensus.

He pointed out that since the previous MPC meeting in May, financial markets had been influenced by this expectation.

The ringgit rallied to RM3.172 against the US dollar on Wednesday, up 2.06% gain. At the close on Thursday, the ringgit was trading at RM3.182.

“In the meantime, the rise in OPR will likely improve Malaysia’s attractiveness amongst foreign investors, leading to stronger capital inflows, lower bond yields and an appreciating ringgit.

“Looking ahead, we do not see the recently announced OPR hike to be the start of a monetary tightening process. At the new rate, the OPR remains accommodative of growth. In this regard, we expect the OPR to remain unchanged at 3.25% for the rest of 2014,” he said.

Source: StarProperty.my

Terraces Condominium, an upcoming residential development by IJM Land in Bukit Jambul, Penang. Strategically located next to INTI International College, within a short drive from Bukit Jambul Golf Course. This development comprises 410 condominium units with wide range of facilities and recreational area.

More details to be available upon project launch.

Project Name : Terraces Condominium @ Bukit Jambul
Location : Bukit Jambul, Penang
Property Type : Condominium
Total Units : 410
Indicative Price : RM600,000 onwards (to be confirmed)
Tenure: Leasehold
Developer : IJM Land

Location Map:

WITH the coming implementation of Goods & Service Tax (GST) in April 2015, many Malaysians are concerned with what this bodes for prices in general. It is inevitable that home prices will also be affected. In this article, we explain how home and property prices will be affected moving forward.

To properly appreciate how GST will affect home prices, it is necessary to first understand how GST works. (Click here for a detailed but simple-to-understand explanation of how GST in Malaysia works).

Aside from GST, one must also have an understanding of the Sales Tax, which is the existing tax scheme affecting the property sector. GST will supplant the Sales Tax come April 2015.

Tax Scheme on Residential Property – The Similarities

In comparing both tax schemes, we have to first identify their similarities.

One similarity between GST and the existing Sales Tax scheme is that no taxes are charged or will be charged to the consumer on the purchase of a home / residential property. For GST, residential properties fall under the “Exempt Rated” basket of goods.(But do take note that GST will be charged to the consumer for commercial property purchases as commercial properties are “Standard Rated”).

However, during the creation of the final product (also known as the input stage in tax parlance), under both tax schemes, developers would incur taxes during procurement of their inputs and materials. And this is where the differences start to become apparent between both tax schemes. The tax rate for inputs and materials vary between GST and Sales Tax.

Sales Tax VS GST for Residential Properties – The Differences

Based on the Sales Tax Act of 1972, basic building materials such as bricks, cement and floor tiles fall inside First Schedule Goods, in which all the goods in this category will not be subjected to sales tax. Meanwhile, other building materials fall inside Second Schedule Goods, in which all the goods in this category will only be charged sales tax of 5%.

Under the new GST implementation, all building materials and services (E.g. Contractors, engineers) will be subject to GST with a standard rate of 6%. This will invariably raise the production cost for developers.

If you understand how GST works, you will notice that in most cases, the additional tax cost is simply passed on to the final consumer (Standard-Rated goods), or is claimed back from the government (Zero-Rated goods). But in this case (Exempt-Rated), the additional tax cost is borne by the party before the final consumer – The developer.

The developer does not have a next “victim” in the supply chain.
This seems like good news for home buyers as they do not have to pay GST when purchasing a home. However, one should not be too happy about this. It is no stretch of the imagination to think that developers would try to build in the additional tax costs into the final sale price implicitly.

Before & After GST – A Comparison

The tables below show a comparison between the cost of a new property before and after GST. Certain taxes and costs leading up to the sale to the final consumer have been simplified for this purpose.

Also, an assumption is made that developers are able to transfer 100% of all incurred tax costs over to the consumer via the sale price.

The example above shows a price increase of 3.41% for new residential properties post-GST implementation. But there is a plus point to this.

Overall, new residential properties may register a lower overall increase in tax burden compared to Commercial Properties that are Standard-Rated. This is because there still is the chance that developers may only transfer some and not all of their tax cost increases into the final retail price.

The downside to this is that where pricing for new commercial properties will be cleaner (Sales Price + GST), pricing for new residential homes would look inflated. This, in turn, will undoubtedly have a knock on effect on prices in the secondary house market.

Conclusion

As a home buyer, it pays to know what the implementation of GST might bode for home prices moving forward. If you skipped the entire article, here are all the key insights in a nutshell:

1)      With GST, there should be a once-off increase in property prices across the board

2)      While developers may not bill home buyers for GST, they could transfer the costs implicitly via the sale price

3)      The overall price increase for new residential properties could be marginally lower than that for new commercial properties

4)      The secondary home market should see a knock on effect in prices

Armed with this knowledge, you can make a better decision on when to purchase your home.

Source: StarProperty.my

GAMUDA Bhd is the favourite to land the job as the Project Development Partner (PDP) to oversee the implementation of key components of an integrated transportation plan on Penang island

The others in the running for the PDP job that is estimated at more than RM5.5bil for the initial phase are IJM Corp Bhd, MMC Corp Bhd, the Scomi Group and WCT Holdings Bhd.

The state that is expected to issue a request for proposal (RFP) exercise next month have made it clear that only companies with a minimum RM3bil annual turnover and a track record of 15 years can participate.

Two key components of the RFP would be to build a 17.5 kilometre light rail transit (LRT) project that connects the Komtar building to the airport and a link cutting across the island from Bayan Lepas to Tanjong Bungah.

The Bayan Lepas-Tanjong Bungah cuts across a mountainous terrain and would require tunnels.

“The LRT project alone is estimated at RM4.5bil,” said a source.

In return for implementing the entire transportation system, which is expected to cost RM27bil and to be done over many years, the PDP would be awarded with the rights to reclaim a sizeable amount of land in the state.

Sources familiar with the proposed plan said Gamuda met with the state government officials about two months ago to present its proposal.

“The proposal to construct a LRT line would need the license from the Federal Government which would be the responsibility of the PDP. For instance, if Gamuda wins the mandate, it would also be responsible for securing the licence,” the source said.

The Scomi Group is the dark horse for the project because it already has a mandate from the Federal Government to carry out a train project on the island.

“The mandate was given in 2008 but could not be implemented after the state government fell into the hands of the opposition,” said an industry official.

In exchange for carrying out the project, the state is giving the PDP the rights to reclaim large tracts of land and the option is in two areas on the island.

The first option is an area in the southern part of the island involving reclamation of some 2,000 acres of which about 30% or some 600 acres will be carved out for the state for the future expansion of the Penang International Airport and to enlarge the Free Industrial Zone (FIZ).

The other option is for the PDP to reclaim the seagrass land located in between the Penang Bridge and the river mouth of Sungai Pinang, which is popularly known as the Middle Bank seagrass.

The state has already indicated that it would start work on an integrated transportation master plan last month.

In relation to this, on June 13, Penang Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow had said in a press conference the Penang government would call for a RFP in August for companies to bid to be the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) in the state’s Penang Transport Master Plan strategy.

According to Chow, the appointed PDP must be a reliable partner to the state to guarantee the projects’ delivery.

“They will have to oversee all the projects with costs estimated at RM27bil. The costs cover highway infrastructure (RM16bil) and public transport (RM9bil). The institutional costs amount to RM905mil,” Chow had said during the press conference held in June.

Chow had said that any interested company or consortium comprising local or international companies could take part in the RFP and the submission period was open for three months. Chow said the appointed PDP had to ensure that the projects complied with government policies and procedures, and obtain all relevant approvals including securing of funds.

He said the PDP would not be working on the projects but only acting as a consultant to the state.

“However, the PDP will be involved in the calling for tender process of the transport master plan projects and will have to step in should the contractors fail to deliver, either to replace the contractors or to do it themselves under their own cost,” Chow had said.

The concept is almost similar to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s plan to build a tunnel between Penang island and Butterworth together with a traffic dispersal system near the Gurney Drive and Tanjong Bungah area.

The project was awarded to Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between a Malaysian company and a China company. The entire project is expected to cost RM6.3bil and is to be paid by the company having some 110 acres of land in the reclaimed area of Tanjong Tokong.

Source: StarProperty.my