IJM Land to allay impact of cooling measures

RM1.7b NEW PROPERTIES: Company targets owner occupiers and upgraders

IJM Land Bhd will focus on developing townships and building affordable houses to mitigate the effects of property cooling measures.

Chief executive officer and managing director Datuk Soam Heng Choon said the company will also launch housing projects targeted at owner occupiers.

"When people buy houses for their own use, the impact from cooling measures will not be there. We hope the government does not continue to flip-flop on policies as it will affect the property sector and other industries," he said.

Soam said IJM Land has seven to eight launches worth RM1.7 billion coming up between now and March next year and it is targeting owner occupiers and upgraders.

The new launches include Seri Riana Phase 2, Bandar Rimbayu Phase 3, Seremban 2 and Pantai Sentral Park Phase 1.

He said IJM Land is bent on surpassing the RM2 billion new sales it achieved last year. It has so far raked in RM1.2 billion in the first half of fiscal year 2014.

Soam was speaking at a media briefing on the company's Seri Riana project in Wangsa Maju yesterday.

IJM Land is launching Phase 2 of Seri Riana, with a gross development value of RM250 million, this month.

It consists of 284 condominium units worth between RM696,000 and RM1.2 million each, or about RM600 per sq ft. Some 2,000 people have registered, Soam said.

"We are selling to a community who are going to live in these condominiums, which is why we have larger units of 1,259 sq ft to 1,830 sq ft. We aim to sell 60 per cent of the units over the next three to four months," Soam said.

Phase 1, launched a year ago, has 395 units and are 95 per cent sold. 

For its STG200 million (RM1.03 billion) Royal Mint Gardens project in London, IJM Land has achieved property sales of 85 per cent worth more than RM800 million for Phase 1, which comprises 254 apartment units, Soam said - Business Times