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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Malton enters JV for Batu Kawan for RM3.8b GDV land development

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 10): Malton Bhd has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Batu Kawan Development Sdn Bhd for the proposed joint development of 300 acres of land at Batu Kawan, Pulau Pinang with an estimate gross development value (GDV) of RM3.8 billion.

"The JV is in line with the company's continuing expansion plan of its core business of property development and construction and is expected to contribute to the medium and long-term profitability of the Malton and its subsidiaries," Malton said in a filing today (Wednesday).

The group's wholly-owned subsidiary Silver Setup Sdn Bhd will be solely responsible for the entire development financing, and is entitled to 82% of the GDV. Batu Kawan is entitled to the remaining 18%.

The development will comprise a mix of commercial and residential developments, and is expected to be carried out and completed in phases over ten years from the date of issuance of the title of the land.

Silver Setup has already paid Batu Kawan RM20 million as part of the former's entitlement under the agreement. - The Star

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

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Tambun Indah to launch RM1b worth of properties

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 8): Little-known Penang-based property developer Tambun Indah Land Bhd plans to launch nearly RM1 billion worth of real estate in the next 15 months or so.

According to managing director Teh Kiak Seng, the developer will launch RM597.6 million worth of properties in the second half of FY12 ending Dec 31. Next year, it plans to unveil RM357.9 million worth of real estate.

Assuming Tambun Indah sells all the properties it launches, new property sales in 2HFY12 and FY13 will surpass the total sales of RM347.3 million achieved in FY11, when the developer sold 912 properties.

The company has unbilled sales of RM261.74 million as at June 30, which is expected to sustain earnings growth for the next three years.

Teh said the company had a pipeline of projects, with an estimated gross development value of more than RM3.7 billion, that will last until 2020. But at the moment, its focus is on launching the projects according to its master schedule and delivering them on time, he told The Edge Financial Daily via email.

“Tambun Indah is also looking to expand its revenue base to include recurring income,” he added.

The developer’s Pearl City Business Park inevitably comes into the spotlight when it comes to growing Tambun Indah’s recurring income base. According to Teh, the project is significant as it marks the company’s commitment to grow its rental income base from the leasing of its commercial properties.

The business park comprises components such as food and beverage outlets, a hypermarket, medical centre and an international school, he said. “For this, we are operating on a build-to-lease basis, hence establishing a new income stream for the group,” Teh said.

Meanwhile, the developer is eyeing potential land acquisitions in the Klang Valley to diversify its income base in another real estate hotspot. The challenge, however, is the expensive tracts there, so landing a good deal is not an easy task, he said.

“We will make the necessary announcements on further updates. For now, the group is aggressively developing its properties in Penang,” Teh said.

Teh: The group is
aggressively develo-
ping its properties in
Penang.

News reports, quoting Teh, indicated that the developer had been eyeing land in Kajang and Rawang, Selangor to kick-start its maiden venture in the Klang Valley.

It was also reported that Tambun Indah was already in talks with landowners for potential joint ventures, a move that is considered commercially viable as the developer would not need to come out with a huge sum of money for land acquisitions.

Tambun Indah had net cash of RM28.52 million as at June 30, based on the company’s cash pile of RM100.74 million and debt obligations of RM72.22 million. Its latest reported net assets per share stood at 67 sen.

For the six months ended June 30, the developer posted a higher net profit of RM18.6 million compared with RM11.1 million in the previous corresponding period. Revenue came in sharply higher at RM144.8 million from RM88.3 million previously.

However, there was a drop in the developer’s earnings last year. Its net profit declined to RM23.3 million in FY11 from RM25.2 million the year before. However, revenue was up 50% to RM191.8 million from RM128 million in FY10.

Teh said its launches in 2HFY12 comprise five projects, involving mainly residential units in Seberang Perai, Penang. These projects include the RM51.1 million BM Residence, the RM32.6 million Carissa Villa and the RM236.1 million Straits Garden.

Tambun Indah also plans to launch two property projects with a total GDV of RM277.8 million under its Pearl City brand during the period.

Next year, the developer’s RM357.9 million worth of launches involving five projects in Seberang Perai are expected to take place during the second half of the year. These projects are the RM55.8 million Taman Bukit Residence, the RM18.6 million Villa Permai and a RM37.5 million joint-venture project undertaken by the company’s wholly-owned unit Perquest Sdn Bhd.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Oct 8, 2012.

乔治市精品民宿天价成交　原业主净赚900万

（槟城9日讯）槟城乔治市老房子再以惊人天价成交，老房子在易手为精品民宿一年后，身价三级跳，澳洲业主坐收900万令吉净利，印证买卖老房子真的是乔治市一门好生意。

在乔治市世遗区边缘地的二条路（Noordin Street）的“人力车房精品民宿”（Noordin Mews）在今年7月新张，唯才新张不及3个月，即已被狮城医生夫妇相中，拿出1200万令吉成为新业主，原业主从中净赚高达900万令吉。

被狮城医生夫妇相中

“人力车房”是于约一年前转手予已是澳洲公民的王礼强（Christopher Ong），后者也砸下上百万令吉，为人力车房组成的两个门牌老屋进行改头换面，全面修复打造成为世遗边缘区以外的另一家精品民宿，不料却开张数月，即已被一对狮城房客相中，王礼强也乐得转手。

若以王礼强以200万令吉，再加上100万令吉的装修，花费也只是300万令吉，然而却在眨眼功夫，只相隔一年光景即已从中获取了近3倍赚利！- 光华

Clarification

In reference to our story “Switch to building manager?” in StarBizyesterday, Building Management Association of Malaysia secretary-general Prof S. Venkateswaran said if the bill was gazetted into an act, about 80% of non-valuer managing agents currently managing residential stratified properties owned by joint management bodies and management corporations would end up jobless instead of as reported. - The Star

George Town still belongs to locals, says GTWHI

IT is untrue that most heritage buildings in Penang’s Unesco World Heritage Site are owned by foreigners as alleged by certain quarters, said George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) acting general manager Lim Chooi Ping.

Refuting claims that most of the property in the inner city had been bought by foreigners, she said out of the 4,600 plus pre-war buildings in the heritage zone, only a small percentage belonged to foreigners.

“Certain quarters have identified 83 such buildings as belonging to foreigners but if you look at how many pre-war buildings there are here, it is only a small percentage.

“While the (foreign ownership) situation is not critical, we recognise that gentrification is an issue and a series of roundtable discussions will be held with the various stakeholders and non-governmental organisations to come up with a strategy to address it.

“The proposal will then be presented to the state government and we may include it in the Special Area Plan (SAP) for the heritage site,” she told a press conference yesterday.

State Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow, who was also present, said the state government viewed the matter seriously but could not stop private owners from selling off their property to foreigners.

“We are concerned that locals are selling off their buildings, more so to foreigners, when they cannot afford to restore or maintain their property,” he said.

He urged Think City Sdn Bhd (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Federal Government’s investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd) to come up with RM500mil so that it could purchase and restore such buildings instead of allowing them to fall into foreign ownership.

“Think City has been doing a good job with its RM20mil seed-funding initiative for urban rejuvenation projects within the heritage site.

“If it obtains more federal funding, pre-war home owners can at least give Think City priority to purchase their property before they sell it to foreigners,” he said.

Chow also called on the state Valuation and Property Services Department to provide more details on foreign ownership of pre-war houses in the heritage zone.

“According to the data given, 61 transactions involving foreigners have taken place in the heritage zone since 2008.

“The number seems to have dramatically risen from June to September this year, constituting 27 out of the 61 transactions. However, the numbers refer to lot-based transactions, not buildings,” he added.

“Each lot may have five or 10 buildings on it so we really do not have an accurate idea of how many pre-war buildings have been sold to foreigners,” he said.

On Oct 8, state Barisan Youth chief Oh Tong Keong called on the state government to control foreign ownership of heritage buildings in Penang.

He claimed that foreign companies, mainly European and Singaporean firms, owned 83 of some 120 heritage buildings surveyed in the inner city of George Town. - The Star

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Developers: We don’t want property flippers

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — Too much speculation is bad for the property market, and buyers should take a longer-term view, said the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association of Malaysia (REHDA) today.

This comes after widespread complaints that speculators or “flippers” were responsible for pushing up property prices faster than the level of income increase especially in urban areas, crowding out genuine homeowners and investors.

File photo of condominiums in Kuala Lumpur. Housing affordability was the number one issue identified by the recent Budget 2013 online feedback gathering platform.

“We, as developers, we also don’t want them (speculators) to come and buy to flip,” said Datuk Ng Seing Liong, REHDA’s past president, at a media briefing on the upcoming Malaysia Property Exposition (MAPEX) 2012 here.

“Too much speculation is no good. We want a long-term and sustainable market.”

Ng also said that after the hike in real property gains tax (RPGT) announced in Budget 2013, the rate was now at a “healthy” level.

He noted however that it would give the public the impression that the government was “flip flopping” on the issue of RPGT as it has been raised twice in the last two budgets after having previously abolished it in 2007.

REHDA treasurer N.K. Tong said he did not expect a severe impact from the RGPT hike as it would not affect long-term investors.

“We want people to take a long-term view of property investment,” he said.

The RPGT was raised from 10 to 15 per cent for properties sold within two years and from five to 10 per cent for properties sold between two and five years from time of purchase.

There will be no RPGT levied on properties sold after five years.

Housing affordability was the number one issue identified by the prime minister’s Budget 2013 online feedback gathering platform, which ran from July 16-29, receiving almost 3,000 separate forms of feedback on the topic.

Apart from the RPGT, the government’s previous measures to cool off the market include capping the loan-to-value ratio for property purchases for third houses and responsible lending guidelines introduced in January which calculated loan eligibility based on net income rather than gross income.

The property market has shown some signs indicative of a cooling this year as the home loan approval rate dipped nearly seven percentage points in the first half of the year to 46.8 per cent from 50.1 per cent during the same period last year.

The House Buyers Association (HBA) said however that the increase in RPGT in Budget 2013 was too “feeble” and would not be able to deter flippers as they typically buy newly launched properties and sell them after construction is completed two years later, by which time they escape from having to pay the highest tax bracket of 15 per cent under the revised RPGT.

MAPEX 2012, which is organised by REHDA, will be held from October 19-21 at MidValley Megamall.

Based on feedback received from exhibitors, the exhibition will have 2,119 units for sale worth some RM2.74 billion.

Ng encouraged people to visit the exhibition even if they were not going to buy as it was a means to educate themselves on property.

He said they could attend free talks by experts as well as compare prices and offerings from some 70 developers.

“Don’t rush into property,” he said. “It is a long-term investment.”

BMAM urges Govt to change the term property manager in strata bill

PETALING JAYA: The Building Management Association of Malaysia (BMAM) is lobbying to the Housing and Local Government Minister to amend the term “property manager” to “building manager” in the Strata Management Bill.

President Datuk Teo Chiang Kok said the “property manager” should be substituted with a more open term, and not be subject to the interpretation of valuers.

Under the new bill, the association said that property management would be monopolised by licensed valuers following the use of the term “property manager”.

Therefore, it came up with the proposal to use the term “building manager”.

BMAM has proposed the definition for “building manager” to be “any person who has been deemed competent to undertake the normal functions of building management and who has been accredited to, or admitted as a member of, or duty certified by an appropriate professional or registered body”.

BMAM secretary-general Prof S. Venkateswaran said if the bill was gazetted into an act, about 80% of joint management bodies (JMBs) would end up jobless.

Furthermore, the minimum fee that valuers must charge under the proposed act is RM50 per unit, which would be “a great burden to stratified property owners”.

“More than 2.5 million low and middle income earning Malaysians live in flats and apartments countrywide, and they are grappling with the ever-increasing costs of living.

“Any additional layer to building management in the form of a monopoly favouring licensed valuers will most certainly burden them financially, bearing in mind that many of them are registered voters,” BMAM said.

It is understood that BMAM was not consulted or requested to attend or contribute input at any workshops and meetings that were held prior to the drafting of the bill.

The association had released a statement to clarify issues raised by the Malaysian Institute of Professional Property Managers and the House Buyers Association.

Among the issues highlighted were the fiduciary duties and responsibilities of JMBs and management corporations, professional indemnity insurance coverage, Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Act, 1981 scale of fees, building management as a multi-disciplinary function, and the monopolisation of licensed valuers on the management of property.

BMAM is the only multi-stakeholder organisation that represents stakeholders in the building industry and property owners. - The Star