Rising confidence in property mart: Napic

KUALA LUMPUR: Higher housing starts and building plan approvals last year signify confidence of developers and investors in the development activity, said National Property Information Centre (Napic) director Dr Zailan Mohd Isa.

Some 400,000 transactions valued more than RM100 million were undertaken during the first three quarters of last year.

Zailan said the second quarter of 2011 was the most active period during the period with more than 115,000 transactions recorded.

Housing starts, a key economic indicator, refer to the number of residential building construction projects begun during a particular period.

Speaking at the 5th Malaysian Property Summit 2012, Zailan said residential property sub-sector expanded significantly by 23.2 per cent after recording a 8.8 per cent growth for similar period in 2010.
At a media briefing, summit chairman and real estate agency CH Williams Talhar and Wong (WTW) managing director Foo Gee Jen does not expect prices to soften within KL although the external uncertainties may have led property buyers to be more cautious.

Choy Yue Kwong, who is president of the Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultants in the Private Sector (PEPs) said past crises have shown that although property prices may drop in cities like Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya for a short period, prices also pick up as fast.

Zailan expects the vacant space in the retail and office sectors to be absorbed as more space taken up from the market as private investment spurred by the Economic Transformation Programme takes place.

He described the outlook for the 2012 property market as bright with strong demand as developers and investors capitalise on the government's incentives.

Demand for development land will also increase from the spillover effect of projects such as highways such as Ampang-Cheras-Pandan Elevated Highway, Guthrie-Daman-sara Expressway, Damansara-Petaling Jaya Highway, Pantai Barat-Banting-Taiping Highway, Sungai Dua-Juru Highway and Paroi-Senawang Highway. - Business Times

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Volatile year for real estate investment trusts

PETALING JAYA: Headwinds from the gloomy global economic and financial fronts, particularly in the United States and the eurozone, will pose challenges to the performance of the local real estate investment trusts (M-REITs) this year.

According to Malaysian REIT Managers Association chairman Stewart Labrooy, the M-REIT sector will face slower growth and competition for tenants as an oversupply situation emerges in the office market leading to lower rental yields.

“It is going to be a volatile year ahead with the eurozone uncertainty coupled with low growth in the European and US markets. These markets are very important to growth in Asia and the impact would be felt in all export-led countries. Capital market activity will remain muted worldwide in 2012,” Labrooy told StarBiz.

In Kuala Lumpur, property prices are expected to remain flat for 2012 with some weaknesses in the high-end residential and office markets.

The recent listing of the Pavilion REIT has improved the liquidity of the domestic market

In the office sector, the seven million sq ft of new office space scheduled for completion this year would result in softening in rental and occupancy.

Despite the gloomy outlook, Labrooy said the Malaysian capital markets were expected to remain healthy this year with a significant number of deals notably the listing of Felda's assets in the first half of 2012.

“We are fully aware of the issues involved as some of the M-REITs have been through the 2008 global financial crisis and are taking a pro-active stand to retain their tenants through this period and manage their gearing leverage conservatively.

“Most M-REITs have strong tenant covenants and long leases to counter cyclical financial events. They also practise very conservative valuations so we don't see any downward pressure on them in 2012 and beyond.

In addition, the average gearing of most M-REITs are in the range of 20% to 40%, precluding any event of a default on their loan covenants,” he said.

Labrooy said a silver lining from the uncertainty and volatility of the global markets was that investors and fund managers had started shifting to dividend stocks with strong asset backing and renewed their interest in M-REITs as defensive stocks in uncertain times.

“I believe that we will continue to see a strong subscription in the M-REIT sector this year bearing in mind that the sector performed fairly well to outperform the KLCI in 2011,” he added.

He said the local market still faced liquidity problem as the size of M-REITs was still small by international standards with only five having market capitalisation of over RM1bil. This has contributed to the weak participation among retail investors.

Although the combined market capitalisation of M-REITs has climbed to over RM15bil, its market capitalisation is still way behind that of Singapore which has US$27bil in market capitalisation.

Labrooy, who is also the chief executive officer of Axis REIT Managers Bhd, said the recent listing of Sunway, CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust and Pavilion REITs had improved the liquidity of the domestic market.

Labrooy also said there was an absence of listing of foreign assets as REITs on the local bourse, adding that those who wanted to go for listing had opted to do so in Singapore due to its much higher liquidity and better tax structure. The local regulatory and tax framework must be improved to be on par with Singapore, and a comparable tax code would assist in getting greater retail participation.

On whether there was a scope for other types of REITs to come into the market, Labrooy said: “Malaysia probably has one of the most diversified REIT offerings in Asia. We are currently offering hospitals, plantations, office, retail, education, hospitality, industrial and diversified REITs.

“In addition three are syariah-compliant to cater to the Islamic investors.

“The sectors that will see growth are in industrial, medium cost housing, healthcare, education and tourism. These growth areas are in the Iskandar Malaysia in Johor, Greater Kuala Lumpur and Penang.”

Al-Hadharah Boustead REIT chairman Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin concurred that the prospects for the REIT market has not been fully tapped in terms of awareness among potential investors.

He said M-REITs were viewed as a safer investment compared with other REITs in the region. This was due to the domestic-centric focus of their property investments, lower refinancing risks and relatively lower foreign shareholding.

“Malaysia is in a strong position for greater growth and has the potential to lead the REITs market in Asia given its good track record and stable market conditions in Malaysia.

“Generally, potential investors are not well informed about REITs. We believe the level of awareness can be increased nationwide as knowledge plays an important role,” he said.

Lodin pointed out.

On the types of M-REITs, he said: “It would be good if the market

could diversify to different types of REITs. Malaysia has a lot of

property related assets with the potential of being “REITed”. The

only factor at play right now is time. Once the conditions are

favourable, industry specialists should develop these assets into

REITs.” - The Star

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A magnet for shoppers

1ST Avenue, one of Penang’s newest malls, has proven to be a popular shopping destination.

The nine-storey mall, which boasts of high fashion and big brands, has been attracting a steady increase of shoppers since its soft opening in November 2010.

Its shopper traffic count has increased from 520,000 people in December 2010 to 770,000 people last month, said Victoria Shigehira Sharpe who is the chief executive officer of Pramerica Real Estate Investors (Asia) Pte Ltd.

The mall, located in the heart of George Town, is a joint venture project between the Belleview Group, The Lion Group and Asian Retail Market II Limited which is a subsidiary of Pramerica.

“While we are already impressed with these numbers, we are confident they will rise even higher as we work towards more innovative advertising and promotion activities as well as loyalty programmes for our shoppers,” Sharpe said at the official opening of the mall yesterday.

Shopping boost: 1st Avenue is strategically located in the heart of George Town.

The opening was a grand affair. Lion dances and drums welcomed guests through the main entrance of the mall facing Magazine Road while the ground floor concourse was decked in the mall’s official colours of blue and green.

Belleview Group managing director Datuk Sonny Ho said they had put in extra efforts to bring in brands which had not arrived in Penang before to make 1st Avenue different from other shopping malls in the state.

“Among them are Coach, M Stores, Cotton On, Payless Shoesource and the first Hush Puppies flagship store in the state,” Ho said in his speech at the opening ceremony which was officiated by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

He said tenancy rate of the mall now stood at almost 90%, with three strong anchor tenants — departmental store chain Parkson, retail giant Carrefour and TGV Cinemas.

“TGV has introduced its very interesting ‘cinema with bean bags’ called the Beanieplex to Malaysia, having its debut in 1st Avenue,” Ho said.

Ho, Sharpe, Lim and The Lion Group executive director Lionel Cheng took a short tour of the mall after the opening ceremony.

The mall is already decked with brilliant Chinese New Year decorations, including five enormous red lanterns that stand as the centrepiece.

Guests were then treated to a scrumptious lunch on the eighth floor that included some of the island’s most famous street food such as mee goreng from Bangkok Lane, Teochew cendol from Penang Road and curry puffs from the Pulau Tikus market.

Ho told reporters later that the mall’s tenancy rate was expected to reach close to 100% by the middle of the year.

“We will be welcoming a theme restaurant to occupy this empty area on the eighth floor while a well-known European household store will take up 5,000sq ft (465sq m) opposite the Carrefour supermarket,” Ho said. - The Star

China eases property restrictions This is to prevent market collapse

SHANGHAI: China will probably ease property curbs as early as the middle of the year to prevent a collapse of the housing market as the measures may boost supply to the highest in a decade, according toUBS AG.

“The gap between supply and demand will reach the peak, and the supply will be 1.5 times or even 1.6 times demand, and it will be a disaster for developers,” Chen Li, head of China equity strategy at UBS, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

“Their cash flow will be exhausted to zero by the end of this year if they cannot get any financing. No one can afford that.”

China’s home prices fell for a fourth month in December after the government reiterated plans to maintain curbs that include higher downpayment and mortgage requirements, according to SouFun Holdings Ltd.

Housing values dropped in 60 out of 100 cities tracked by the nation’s biggest real-estate website owner, including the 10 largest cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.

The government said last month at an annual economic planning meeting that it won’t back away from real-estate industry curbs this year that are damping home sales and pulling down prices.

The nation’s financial centre of Shanghai and some other Chinese cities have also said they would continue to impose the home purchase restrictions this year.

“If you assume the property policy keeps stable in the coming year, that means by the end of the year the inventory of property will reach a new peak, around 10 years or even 20 years,” Chen said.

The government has said it would continue to increase the supply of social housing.

It plans to start the construction of seven million homes this year, compared with 10 million in 2011. The completion would at least keep pace with last year’s five million units, People’s Daily reported earlier this year.

A gauge tracking property shares on the Shanghai stock exchange climbed 0.9% compared with the 0.5% gain in the benchmark measure. – Bloomberg

Belleview pushes ahead with projects

GEORGE TOWN: Despite predictions of a slow year for the property sector, Belleview Group is pushing ahead with plans to launch over RM420mil in residential projects.

Managing director Datuk Sonny Ho said two projects in Penang and one in Kedah would be launched this year.

Moulmein Rise, a RM200mil condominium project sited on a carpark next to the Pulau Tikus market, and W Residence, an eight-bungalow development project in Western Road valued at over RM70mil, would break ground on Penang island mid this year, he said.

“In Kedah, we are launching Alor Setar's first condominium project, called Amansuri Residences,” Ho said after the launch of 1st Avenue mall in George Town.

He said Amansuri Residences, which would be launched in two weeks, had a gross development value of RM150mil.

and was expected to be completed in mid-2014. - The Star

Property sector can be catalyst to high-income nation goal - Chor

PETALING JAYA (Jan 9): The local property sector can be the catalyst to propel Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung said.
He said the Malaysian property segment and the Industry players despite experiencing major transformations in recent years due to the gloomy economic climate in the United States and Europe, did not lose its "charm" among regional property buyers.
"Initiatives like the Greater KL Plan will not only reposition our Kuala Lumpur capital city as a world-class city, but also bring significant spillover effects to the country's economy.
"At the same time, the housing and property segment, being one of the country's key economic contributors, should respond positively towards sustainability and environment-friendly," he said when presenting keys to owners of the Zest Point mixed residential housing scheme developed by Trinity Group Sdn Bhd.
Chor said green technology builders have a competitive advantage over traditional developers.
"I am confident this advantage will continue for a long time as the norm now is green technology like energy-efficient buildings and water conservation facilities. Developers already involved in the green building market are ahead of the
masses," he added.-- Bernama

隐于乔治市的迷你联合国 Kampong Deli被遗弃的宝地

（槟城9日讯）槟城光大的槟榔律有一个小巷口，在久远时代它只许摩托车铁马驶入，如今限制车子驶入的两条石柱已拆除“让路”，而从这个小巷进入，却是城市里另一个景色，并有一个甘榜名，称为甘光日里(Kampong Deli)，被誉为“城市内甘榜”。
甘光日里在槟榔律的入口原是沙石路，一进入后，即展现多栋老建筑，这些老建筑都是老字号的建筑，年代久远，其建筑外貌符合现多人对古迹建筑的定义，看在外国人眼里都是宝。这些建筑多数在后期成为七十二房客栖居盘踞地，在屋租统制法令废除后，租户面对树倒猢狲散命运，如今产业更被财团大手笔收购，多栋建筑更是人去楼空，等着新生。
甘光日里一度在20多年前因为“莲荣暖炉”而驰名，在小巷门牌16及18号的苏旅游社也是槟城人所熟悉，甘光日里内的4栋老建筑原是七十二房屋建筑，其中小巷进入左手边的1号更是热闹非常，如今租户也已散了。
其下的3号建筑同样已搬空，21号建筑也从连荣暖炉的老字号，换成吉祥招牌，该马来式建筑同样是七十二房客所在地，如今楼下成为吉祥暖炉厨房，楼上建筑成为仓库用途，而建筑面对年久失修残破情况，至于19号这栋别致的马来浮脚楼式建筑也同样人去楼空。
多元种族融合的小天地
据了解，甘榜日里地主据称原是锡克人，所以路名与锡克有关，尽管如此，它却是一个多元种族融合一处的小天地，更被指是一个迷你联合国；其中现已成为“阿明修车间”的原是一栋马来浮脚建筑物，为印度人所占据，可是多年前的火患成为废墟，后更拆除成为车厂。
林锦顺：曾经风光　黄连荣暖炉无人不晓
光大前州议员拿督林锦顺向本报记者指出，甘光日里少人熟知，即使在他作议员时，也必须以“格成茶室”旁边小路进入来指路。
他表示，很多人会怀疑乔治市哪还会有甘榜，实际上从格成一进入至姓王公司后（Macalister Lane）的约200公尺即是甘榜的范围。他说，甘光日里原是一个很热闹的城市甘榜，住满居民，其中多栋建筑更是七十二房客，里面以贫民为多，来自各行各业。
由于其出口即是市区，所以很多人住了不想搬，其中居民以小贩为多。甘光日里在20年前巷内的黄连荣暖炉无人不晓，相信是当时槟城最大的暖炉供应商，逢新春即供应约300个暖炉，甚至出现供不应求的情况，连荣当时即以价廉物美赢得口碑，受到当时神坛组织甚至咖啡店的青睐，可是在人口迁移后，再加上交通不便，造成连荣生意也大不如前，后期交予吉祥接手。
他表示，甘光日里入口的格成也有逾百年历史，其冰琪淋更是远近驰名，而苏州旅社相信也有60多年历史。据了解，格成是董成忠与另一名伙伴成立，传至其子董炳源（62岁），如今除了经营茶室及冰淇琳，更在甘光日里的槟榔律入口开摊炒粿条，生意不俗。
居民回忆孩子天堂　曾经不夜天经没落
出世槟榔律374号的居民叶首意(53岁)说，记得甘光日里在其小时候是孩子嬉戏天堂，后方都是人声叫嚷的不夜天般，可是如今却已听不到孩童嬉戏声浪。
他记得那时小巷还有两根石柱档路，车子都不能驶入甘榜内，如今柱子也已被拆，路面成为泊油路，车子也可驶入。他指出，入口原钉有一面Kampong Deli的路牌，唯却已下落不明，只有姓王公司后入口的墙面上还有另一面的路牌。
他表示，其中在数年前发生火灾的建筑更是栖息了逾10间的家庭，而居民清一色是印裔。据他指出，目前甘光日里已面对财团进入收购，据称槟榔律的中央大酒店即成为主要收购家，苏州旅社一排4间洗石子原料建筑已成为对方囊中物。
租户搬迁人去楼空　历史老建筑等候新生
甘光日里的老建筑等新生。在甘光日里有多栋建筑等候新生，其中19号为一栋马来浮脚建筑，其信箱更是以一个饼干珍制成，连林锦顺前州议员也认为它是甘光日里的宝。然而该建筑却是门院深锁，少了人烟，怀疑原有租户也已搬迁，其未来发展用途还不得知。林锦顺即表示，在甘光日里有不少的老房子看在外国人眼中都是宝，而这些建筑却面对失修情况，极为可惜；再来他对该些建筑从原有的热闹繁华，如今却面对人过楼空，已少了过往的热闹气象感到无限唏嘘。- 光华

相关照片

■ 被外国人当成宝的该栋马来浮脚楼建筑，保养尚好，唯少了人烟。

■ 甘光日里的建筑造型依然亮丽。

■ 七十二房客的格间已拆除，成为吉祥暖炉的储藏室。

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