Property Malaysia

We recently met a former associate of ours, someone we hadn’t seen for quite a long time.

He looked well, and told us he was temporarily attached to this huge residential condo project along off Jalan Ampang, which involved Japanese construction giant Obayashi Corp. He promised to meet up with us again soon, and our interest was piqued by this new project, so we decided to find out more.

Basically, Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Bhd, a member of Great Eastern Holdings Ltd, is one of the more established insurance companies in Malaysia. Now they are starting to enter the residential property development market with this first project launching in the middle of next year, and according to a report in the NST,

“The yet-to-be-named project, on five acres we have owned since the 1950s, will comprise 150 units housed in six blocks of three to 10 storeys. Unlike other condo projects, we will only rent out the units,” its executive vice-president and head of finance & corporate affairs Bruce Lee said.

With unit built-up areas ranging from 1,600sq ft to 6,000sq ft, the company has set rental indicatively at a modest RM4psf.

Obayashi Corp has been appointed as the turnkey developer, and Great Eastern is in the process of diversifying its investment portfolio through the purchase of viable commercial properties, especially in the Klang Valley, inline with its objective of ensuring good returns to policyholders.

As for commercial properties portfolio, the corporation owns Menara Great Eastern, Great Eastern Mall in Ampang, The Weld and Menara Weld in KL, Travillion Tower in Kuching, Sarawak, Wisma Great Eastern in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, as well as Wisma Great Eastern Penang which is under construction, all of which valued at between RM700 and RM800 million in total.

So will Great Eastern follow the footsteps of other property players to move towards issuing REITs? Nope, according to them:

“It does not make sense for us. Typically, a company converts its assets to liquid by raising funds from the public through a REIT. We already have public funds through the premium paid by our policyholders … our job is to manage the funds so that they get better returns,” he noted.

Here’s something you might find interesting on home insurance. It’s taken from the myioi community page, and gives a brief run-down the types of coverage and what to look out for in when looking to insure your house.

They give some tips (with explanation) for beginners:

• Consider how much insuring it will cost
• Check the home’s construction
• Insure your house, not the land
• Improve your home security and safety
• Stop smoking (good one…! X-man)
• Seek out discounts for seniors
• See if you can get group coverage.
• Stay with an insurer
• Compare the limits in your policy to the value of your possessions at least once a year.

Click here e complete article.

We have been hearing insider news about Glomac’s acquisition of this huge piece of land behind Tesco, next to the watercourse separating USJ and Puchong. The news caught on with the general public a few months ago when Glomac dropped hints in press releases, and since it was launched last week, it had generated considerable buzz in Puchong.

This piece of land was largely left fallow while other parts of Puchong were feverishly being developed. Back then a huge portion of this place was still untreated ex-mining land. Soon Tesco opened amidst the shoplots and light industrial lots, then came Mutiara Puchong by Malton and Lake Edge by YTL. Now a third developer has entered the fray, Glomac.

There will be two ways to get there when this place is ready, one is the shared entrance with Lake Edge, where you can see some heavy backfilling works into another part of the lake. Lakeside is further in, past some more industrial lots. The way in is via the existing Taman Industri Puchong, but we doubt people would prefer to go through this light to medium industrial area (side note: Pos Malaysia’s delivery centre is located here). The current access is a temporary construction road, may be unfavourable to traverse during inclement weather.

Also, there is mention of the proposed link to USJ, much talked about by developers on both side of the great divide (like Malton, Dergahayu, MCT, YTL). Too much has been speculated about this link, we won’t comment further on it.

According the developer, they bought this piece of land and carried out some soil rehabilitation works to the ex-mining land, but pretty much kept the lake as it is. The development is an exclusive development of 537 link homes and 100 semi-Ds, with some shops, and amenities like clubhouse with swimming pool, guardhouse, linear park, petrol station, and water sports. The whole development is neatly laid out in rows and rows of parallel roads, all units to are either facing north or south (not exactly true north, but…)

At the moment, they are soft launching 102 units of double storey linkhomes, official launch should be next week. We didn’t like the façade of the building, but it comes down to personal tastes. In terms of internal layout, the corner units have large gardens, and the porch is wide enough to fit two cars side by side. Built up is 2,055sq.ft (corner units are slightly larger) set on a 22’ x 75’ plot. There are 4+1 rooms, the layout is quite appealing without much to fault. There is narrow balcony (for the master bedroom) stretching the entire width of the unit, which doubles as an air-con ledge.

Some features we like: ample ventilation for kitchen, reasonably large rooms, 50’ road reserve. Some things we didn’t quite like: the aforementioned façade and too small lawn for intermediate lots.

Pricing starts from about RM325k for intermediate lots, corner units cost much more. During this soft launch, there is a RM8k discount of sorts, so it comes out to about RM317k. Please check with sales people on the latest pricing and discounts.

But the bigger question is: what did we think of the development as a whole? The developers and many property watchers view as a favourable location, and comparison to Lake Edge is inevitable. Lake Edge has sold off most of their double storey linkhomes, and are currently heavily marketing their unsold garden and pavilion terrace units (perhaps as a response to Lakeside’s launch). Lake Edge employs a more contemporary, open, Australian-influenced concept, Lakeside is more conventional. Looking at the development as a whole, we have to say we were not entirely impressed with the place, as unpopular as this view will be (and we know it will be.) Firstly, our concern is the land. Some of our associates were directly involved in the works around the lakes (although not necessarily on this piece of land), and without going into too much detail, if given a choice, we would still prefer ex-estate land or cut ground (and we emphasize that only if we are given a choice). However in our previous dealings, we know that Glomac is a reputable developer.

In addition to that, leasehold may be a concern to some people, although these days it is harder and harder to find any other kind of land in the suburbs. And all things considered, we feel the pricing for the first phase is a little steep. It will probably get higher for later phases, but of course it is mainly down to the location.

Another point is that we found the quality of the show unit a bit lacking, especially in terms the floor finishing and plastering. Some may argue that this is a show unit, and they probably had to rush it for the sales launch. However we see it differently. It is an actual unit, albeit used for viewing purposes. And show units should show the best quality you can achieve for buyers, not the other way around. We hope the other units will have the quality of finishing that is expected.

So if you value this location above all other factors, and the Glomac’s reputation, this it is worth a serious look.

UPDATE January ‘07: For the latest site photos, check it out here.

This posting is the latest in the series of available launches in Bandar Kinrara. For the overall review of the development and our views on the location, pricing, accessibility and quality of Bandar Kinrara, you are advised to read this posting first:

Development Review: Bandr Kinrara

Other phases that we have reviewed are:

Harmony (double storey linkhomes)
9@Kinrara (double storey linkhomes)
Spektra (9A4)

Basically, Damai is a more upmarket double-storey linkhomes and super-sized corner units. It is located at the southern edge of Bandar Kinrara, facing some soon to be developed semi-D units. At the back of the Damai phase is the Bukit Hitam forest reserve.

Damai has 65 units laid out in 3 rows of houses, with a small green area at the centre. The interesting thing with this phase is even with the small number of units, there is a wide choice of units to pick from. Not as many of 9@Kinrara, but this has a wide range from standard linkhouse units to super-sized corner units.

First, there are the standard units, which are type C & D. These are 22’ x 75’ units, with a build-up of 2,083sq.ft. These unit have a deeply recessed entrance, with a main entrance into the dining and a side entrance into the living. The living is quite private, separated from the dining. The dry and wet kitchen are also roomed, and there is a fairly large yard for wet cooking. Upstairs the master bedroom is a little tight, and bedroom 3 is quite small. There is a choice of units with balcony or no balcony.

Types E & F are slightly different variations, with a build-up of 2,026sq.ft.

Type G is an end lot with a side garden, with a build-up of 2,357sq.ft. This unit has a larger attached bath for the master bedroom. All rooms upstairs have attached baths, at the cost of smaller rooms. We liked these units, we’re suckers for side gardens.

Type A is a huge super-sized corner unit, clocking in at 3,377sq.ft. 5+1 rooms, huge terrace, huge porch, everything is huge, price too. You get the point. There are only 3 units available, all comes with gardens big enough to play decent football with your kids. Type B, then is slightly less extravagant, at 2,734sq.ft. There are 4+1 rooms, and all spaces are also big, we liked this one very much (not that we can afford). But the thing is with these big homes, is that may be better to get a big unit like this in a exclusive gated development (like, I dunno, Alam Sutera) as compared to staying here.

We find the pricing quite reasonably compared to the other phases in Bandar Kinrara, especially with the forest reserve behind you. Facilities in this development are excellent, you should read our post on the overview. We liked the place, it’s freehold to boot.

Very limited units available, construction at 30% at the time of writing.

YTL just announced earlier this week that they are listing the Starhill REIT (real estate investment trust) to raise about RM523.39 million from the initial public offering (IPO). This is the largest property trust to be listed in Malaysia so far.

This news was widely reported in leading newspapers (here and here too) and was also published in YTL’s community webpage. Among the highlights of the announcement was:

• The REIT would use 80% of its proceeds to buy more assets in Malaysia, Europe and US;

• This is the second REIT to be listed locally after the Axis REIT that raised about RM123 million in its IPO in August;

• Two properties under the YTL group will form part of the REIT are Starhill and Lot 10, which have have occupancy rates of 99% and 96%, respectively as of October. Another property included is the JW Marriot hotel, totaling to RM1.15billion. The REIT will pay all of its earnings as dividend in the first two years and 95% of earnings in subsequent years.

• YTL are planning to offer 509.6million new units (about 49%) of its total units, beginning this Dec 16. Out of this, about 29.99 million units will be offered to retail investors at 98 sen apiece, with the balance of 479.6 million will be offered to institutional investors via a
  bookbuilding exercise.

• They are estimating an indicative price of RM1.03 per unit, with a dividend yield of 6.1%. It would have a yield of 6.4 per cent based on a retail IPO price of 98 sen. YTL are predicting a distributable income of RM32.3 million for the six months to June 30 2006, on the back of RM47.4 million in net revenue.

• ECM Libra Securities Sdn Bhd, DBS Bank Ltd and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Ltd are the joint book-runners for this offering with AmMerchant Bhd Group as the senior co-lead manager. ECM Libra is also the lead financial adviser for this IPO.

• Comparatively, the Axis REIT was oversubscribed when it closed its initial public offering in August. Institutional investors asked for about 18 times more than what was on offer, while the retail portion of 15 million units was also oversubscribed by 3.72 times.

• In the coming months, other new issues of REITs expected are fund manager Permodalan
  Nasional Bhd and hospital operators Pantai Holdings Bhd and KPJ Healthcare Bhd.

For further reading, check out our earlier postings regarding REITs in Property Malaysia:

Budget Boost for Malaysian REITs
Budget 2006: Effects on Housing & Property Sector
About Malaysian REITs
YTL to Launch Starhill REIT in October
How Secure Are REITs?

Local real estate agent SK Brothers Realty are organizing an exhibition in what they bill as ‘Grand Raya X’mas Home Ownership Campaign 2005′ (that’s what it says on the website!).

In a report in the News Straits Times,

So far, 35 developers, four banks and a number of home improvement firms have committed their participation in HOC, which is the 12th organised by SK Brothers.

Its chief executive officer Charlie Chan said the campaign is expected to draw thousands of visitors in view of the prevailing low interest rates offered by the country’s financial institutions and the wide variety of choice properties available.

Details are as follows (you can get more info from their website here)

Mid Valley Exhibition Centre, Kuala Lumpur
Fri, 9th Dec - Sun, 19th Dec 2005
10.00 am to 9.00 pm
Hotline: +603-7874 6888

There will also be some property and investment related talks during the exhibition.

(by the way, did you know we also have a short listing of some real estate agents in our website here?)

At first we wanted to do a few separate reviews of the individual launches in this exclusive guarded development, but after all things considered, we thought a better way was to see the entire development in one review, highlighting the different unit types.

The last phase had just been launched recently, which is a 3 ½ storey bungalow and semi-D row at the edge of the land.

Damansara Legenda is set in a 17.44 acre plot of freehold land, in between Tropicana Golf and Country Resort (owned by the Dijaya Group), Damansara Indah and the NKVE. The piece of land is a tapering shaped trapezoidal, with one single entrance. The entry point at the moment is from Tropicana road (after the tunnel from Sprint / Sony), its actually just before the arch into Tropicana. The current access is a temporary one, it passes in front of a large seafood place. The new, permanent entrance is now under construction.

The development has actually been launched for quite some time, in fact some of the semi-D units will be ready for handover next month (that’s what they said, bit there seems to be quite a bit more to be done, imho). The entrance, park and playground are already ready, it looks mighty impressive with their imprint concrete entrance.

There are about 116 units, all facing either north or south, arranged in 6 parallel roads.

There are 5 designs of bungalows and semi-D’s each, the bungalows were pretty much sold out when we viewed the place, so we didn’t really check them out. But they were mainly 3 storey units (and the 3 ½ storey latest launch).

The semi-D are also 2 ½ , 3 and 3 ½ storey, ranging from 40’ x 70’ to 80’. Most of them have 6+1 rooms, with the option of converting the large family room at the top floor into another room. Some of the types like A, A1 & D have this awesome master bedroom that stretch the entire length of the units, including the walk in wardrobe and attached bath. Most of the units have quite an impressive bathroom concept, it’s partially skylighted to let the natural light in. Nice touch. There are units with balcony for the back rooms too.

The units have ample garden space, and have this no-gate concept, since the entire project is guarded as it is. Prices start from 1.5mil for the semi-D, we’re thinking the bungalows aren’t going to be cheap (built up for bungalow range from 4,781 to 11,494sq.ft.)

The earlier mentioned last phase has an additional half floor below the ground floor, its is a large room that opens out to the back garden due to the slope.

We liked the place, although the bright pastel multi-coloured external paint didn’t really do it for us (reminded us a bit of Duta Tropika in Hartamas). Well, as for the location, you know what they always say about Tropicana – limited to two congested exits at Sony and to Kota Damansara. Too many developments in a small area with too little roads. When Casa Tropika is completed soon (review coming next week), there will another 1000 or more cars pouring out onto these roads. Not to mention those residents from the up and coming condos in Kota Damansara. This doesn’t make Damansara Lagenda any less attractive, but the traffic is something that future residents here have to accept as part of their daily lives. There is another proposed link road to Hyatt Saujana in the future.

Being in area noted for upmarket developments and condos (like Riana Green, Damansara Indah et al) it has a respectable address, the quality of workmanship is quite good, big spaces and rooms are some of the pros of the place. But of course, all this comes at a hefty price tag, further considering that is freehold. But then again this is the going rate for bungalows and semi-Ds. There is not much in terms of facilities, the nearest shops are probably in Bandar Utama or Kota Damansara.

Mah Sing is currently moving up into luxury property niche, with other projects like Aman Perdana in Klang and Austin Perdana in Johor. They were recently promoted up from the Second to the Main Board, and have pretty big plans and decent landbank.

No this isn’t a seminar for those gangsters seeking ‘protection money’ from scared house owners.

The National House Buyers Association (NHBA) is organizing a seminar highlighting the following topics:

• Role & Functions of the Monitoring & Enforcement Division of the Ministry of Housing & Local Government
• Ambit & Jurisdiction of the ‘Tribunal for Home Buyer Claims’ (Housing Tribunal)
• Highlights of Contracts of Sale - Rights & Entitlements

The seminar will be in Bahasa Malaysia and English, and is open for all. Details are as follows:

9 December 2005 (Friday)
2.00pm - 5.30pm
PWTC, Kuala Lumpur
RM50 (Early) RM65 (*Late or walk-ins) per person
*Late registration is less than 48 hours before date of seminar, walk-ins are those who did not pre-register.

You can register at their website here.

Should be interesting.

Regular read Lars first suggested us to use Google Earth to show the location of the projects we review. Perhaps one day we might do that, once Google actually update the images to more recent ones. The current images are said to be about 2 years old.

And since Klang Valley is being developed at such a break neck speed, a lot of the land usage and terrain would have change in this time. But anyway, it is still interesting to see some images of the hot development areas in and around the city.

For starters, this is the KLCC and Jalan Ampang, or as we like to call it, “Condo Central”. Bottom centre is the twin towers with massive park attached to it. You can actually see the Binjai construction going on, just to the bottm right of the park. All the other condos like Troika, Binjai Residency and and 2Hampshire are still green or not up yet. Some of the projects in the area reviewed here are:
Binjai Residency
K Residence
The Meritz
Suria Stonor
Preview Idaman Residence

This one below is of course, the Bukit Jalil area. The white oval you see on the right is the stadium in the National Sports Complex. At the bottom of the pic is of course Puncak Jalil by Talam, and on the far left is of course Kinrara. In between, there of course many developments, most of them not seen here yet. Some of the projects in the area reviewed here are:
Development Review: Bandar Kinrara
Harmony (Phase B43A1), Bandar Kinrara
9@Kinrara, Bandar Kinrara
Mutiara Bukit Jalil
Savanna, Bukit Jalil
Paragon Heights, Bukit Jalil

This next one is of course Bandar Puteri and surrounding areas. Bandar Puteri is unmistakeable from the semi-circle ring of road, and the large tract of green is none other than the Bukit Hitam Forest Reserve. You can clearly see the LDP, with the Puchong Barat toll leading to Shah Alam. To the left and below of Bandar Puteri is Puchong Intan and Puchnog Perdana.

Development Review: Bandar Puteri
Aseana Puteri, Bandar Puteri
Bayu Puteri, Bandar Puteri
Grande View, Bandar Puteri
Lilac, Bandar Puteri
Puchong Hartamas: KimCrest

The last pic, is quite interesting. the township to the south of the lake is Putra Perdana in Sepang. Further to the south of Putra Perdana, is none other than Amanputra and Nusaputra. If anyone has read the discussion in our Nusaputra review…

Kayangan, Bandar Nusaputra
Teratai, Bandar Nusaputra
Begawan, Bandar Nusaputra

The Star has this on its front page today.

“Probe under way into 12 stalled police housing plans”

Police are investigating 11 developers who have abandoned or delayed construction of 12 police housing projects costing a whopping RM500mil.

Some of the problems mentioned are:

• 2,670 personnel and their families are without quarters.

• The Government has to fork out an additional RM8.2mil a year in allowances for those renting houses.
• Only 99 of 211 projects under the 8th Malaysia Plan, which ends next year, have been completed.
• Some of the completed projects are not fit for occupation.

The police have been forking out an additional RM8.2mil a year in housing allowances to its rank and file and officers due to the 12 abandoned housing projects. Actually, this problem is not limited to police personnel housing projects.

For more reports, you may want to check out these:

12 police projects worth RM500mil abandoned
RM8.2mil spent on housing yearly