Property Malaysia

Sunrise, developer synonymous with the Mont’Kiara marque, is optimistic of better earning next year, as highlighted in their AGM recently. Some key figures from the press report are as follows:

• Sunrise reported a net profit of RM104.69 million in FY05. However, net profit was RM7.11 million in FY06 due to the provision for one-off impairment losses of RM87.4 million.
• Unbilled sales stand at RM820million and more launches are on the way.
• The GDV of 10 Mont’Kiara was RM600 million and sales have hit 77% at the time of the AGM. 10 Mont’Kiara is Sunrise’s latest offering the area.
• Their landbank in the Mont’Kiara area had increased to 36.8ha now from 25.6ha as of June 30, 2005, and it was developing about 20ha of land in Mont’Kiara with a GDV of RM3 billion now.
• Next year, Sunrise will also launch several projects at Solaris Dutamas and 11 Mont’Kiara, with a combined GDV of RM1 billion.
• The company also has stake in overseas assets, but Sunrise managing director Datuk Michael Yam said it would dispose of its interest in a development project in the United Kingdom to focus on its operations in Malaysia. Sunrise has a 33.3% stake in Milequay Ltd, which owns 25% of the development project in Ipswich.

Funny title to the post, right? Well, the second “Mont’Kiara” refers to the location, in case you’re wondering.

Sunrise just opened this booking a few weeks ago to overwhelming reception. According to marketing folks, this forms the last parcel of prime development land in the lucrative Mont’Kiara area. The remainder of this parcel will be launched soon as 11 Mont’Kiara, although details at the moment are sketchy.

There isn’t much to say about Sunrise condos that hasn’t been repeated to death, after all there has been so many prior projects that have been successfully launched and handed over to buyers prior to this. Just take a slow drive along the narrow, well-guarded Sunrise territory in front of Plaza Mont’Kiara or Jalan Kiara or Jalan Duta Kiara.

Mont’Kiara was first developed by Sunrise as the area beyond Sri Hartamas some 10 years ago. Over the years, the place has turned from the green forest edge to condo central. When later developers came to the area, the boom really took off and now the whole sub-district has expanded from Jalan Duta to Segambut to the old Sri Hartamas. It seems like every plot of land that can be developed has been (or is going to) turned in a condo, or bungalows, or townhouses or serviced apartments. Those who got in early made their money early and left, or reinvested in the seemingly never ending stream of new condos mushrooming up everywhere.

As the pioneer of the area, Sunrise had its heyday a couple of years back, at the peak of its condo building days. At that time no one could match them in terms of sales, innovative products, flamboyant facilities and good quality control.

And so we come to 10 Mont’Kiara, one of the last parcels of prime land here for Sunrise. In the twilight of the masterplan for the precinct, Sunrise finds themselves no longer competing with themselves as they used to, although they also have projects on sale like Mont’Kiara Meridin and Boulevard Tower, Solaris Dutamas. They now find a deluge of competition from all comers who have matched or even bettered their formula, and not doing too badly themselves.

But there is one advantage that 10 Mont’Kiara has, one that is the single most important factor driving the sales – the Sunrise marque. Perhaps that is one of the reasons people find reviews like this one almost not entirely necessary. Why? Because those who believe in the Sunrise product would have bought it anyway, after registering on their priority list years ago. These include repeat buyers of Sunrise properties, those who know only too well what they are expecting. First time buyers Sunrise are also queueing to join the queue (you better believe that), that is if they can afford the price. Then there are those who are attracted by ‘last few parcels of land’ thing.

Whatever the reasons, we think this project will be all that people expect it to be. Sunrise is known to be consistent, but there are a few things to consider. The price here is on the average about RM525, high even by Mont’Kiara standards. That would mean a higher price to ask from renters, or second hand buyers. But still, the conditions for the first sale would still translate to the second hand market, meaning that renters and 2nd hand buyers still expect the same conditions as the buyers do now.

Some people would view the competition on the same level as Sunrise, especially in terms of value for money. The thing is that if other places (say, like Tiffani or Kiaraville) would be competing heavily in terms of luxury offering, and those places may be slightly more affordable. Well, ultimately, it all depends on the buyer to weigh all the factors here.

We won’t delve too much into the project, because it isn’t much different from their earlier 6-star developments, basically Sunrise has already got the formula down pat. There are two identical towers of 43 levels, with each floor having only 4 units. The land size a large 7.3 acres, giving the leverage to the developer to lay on their usual greenery and facilities. There is an impressive roundabout entrance, and a grand foyer. Within the grounds, they’ve packed every conceivable luxury facility, from the usual swimming pools and sports grounds, to the more exotic tai chi grounds, putting green, bowling / croquet lawn and conservatory gardens. Yep, best in the area, no doubt about it.

Sunrise has gone for the glass-look here, with lots glazing, and the floating swimming pool is impressive.

Units range from 3,478 to 4,090sq.ft, and the penthouses are from 6,500 to 7,500sq.ft. All the units have almost the same footprint. With the large build-up, you can enjoy your own private lift lobby, huge living and dining, and 4+1 rooms, and lots of rooms and spaces all round. Heck, even some of their air-conditioning ledges are bigger than our own rooms. Not to mention the balcony is being larger than our living / dining. Two features that stands out is the special AV room, which no doubt a lot of people will find handy, and the landscaping around the bath in the master bedroom.

Tower B has generally larger units than Tower A. The penthouses are exclusive and extravagant.

As mentioned, Sunrise has upped the pricing here, at about RM525psf, which works out to about RM1.7mil to RM5mil. Not for the average wage-earning Joe.

Our comments on the location are well covered in our many earlier reviews in the area

Maintenance fee is about 22sen psf, but check with the salespeople for details.

Well, what is there to say? Sunrise is Sunrise. We think the main deciding factor here for the fence sitters is the price. Those who want to buy (and can afford) would have been there at the sales gallery on the first weekend of the opening.

Other projects in the vicinity of Mont’Kiara and Sri Hartamas that we have reviewed:

Changkat View
Hartamas Regency 2
Kiara 1888
Kensington Park
Kiaraville
Kiaramas Ayuria
Hijauan Kiara
The Verve Suites
Tiffani by i-ZEN
Boulevard Tower, Solaris Dutamas
Mont’Kiara Meridin

A friend of ours told us this incident - he knows another guy who works for a developer, offered to let our friend book a unit of a soon-to-be-launched apartment in PJ. He said that pre-booking was open only to the company staff and friends, the official launch was targeted for early December (sometime next week, I believe). The location was good, and the design looked appealing, the company quite decent. Plus they were offering an attractive discount (or so he thought). But when we went to their office, he almost balked when he saw the price (I believe his exact words were “had to pick my jaw up from the floor“), he wasn’t even close to affording the very cheapest unit. So he politely declined and excused ourselves. Maybe he should have asked the price range before going there…

But the design looked nice, though.

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Another friend of ours, who runs his mid-sized engineering consultancy. He was telling us the other day that he’d been spending a lot of the past one year traveling to Sudan, to work on a huge housing project there funded by the government. He says that the property market is opening up in a huge way there, similar to Malaysia in the 70’s. What’s happening is that the government is building a massive number of middle-cost homes as the to cope with the enlarging economy and rising affluence of the nation. He said that Malaysians who are looking for growing markets should seriously look to investing there.

Hmm, we’ll pass…

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Anyone went to the Mega Malaysia Property Showcase in PWTC this weekend? Anything interesting to report?

CIMB Bank Berhad, formerly Bumiputra-Commerce Bank, is really stepping up their game to get a bigger slice of the home loan market.

The other day, a pal of ours showed us this flyer from the bank, advertising their latest ‘Dream Home Campaign’. Basically they are offering attractive rates to entice new home buyers and a Rate Switch Option to lure existing borrowers to refinance with them.

Their competitive loan packages with free moving cost are:

Loan above RM300,000 (with MRTA)
1st 3 years = BLR – 0.9%
Thereafter = BLR – 0.8%

Loan between RM150,000 and RM300,000 (with MRTA)
BLR – 0.8% throughout loan period.

In conjunction with this massive promotion, they are having a special event to promote it, and are organizing an ‘ultimate prize package’ for those who take up their offer. In total they are offering RM500,000 in home makeovers, RM20,000 holiday package, RM9,000 in cash and up 3 years free home loan.

For more info, you can call them at +603 2084 8888 or visit their website at www.cimb.com.