Property Malaysia

And again…

Bank Negara cuts OPR by half percentage point

KUALA LUMPUR: Worried about a growing risk of an economic contraction this year, Bank Negara has cut the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 50 basis points, or half a percentage point, to 2% as the global economy continues to deteriorate.

In a statement yesterday, the central bank announced the statutory reserve requirement (SRR) would also be cut from 2% to 1% from March 1 to reduce the cost to banks.

The ceiling and floor rates of the corridor for the OPR were correspondingly reduced to 2.25% and 1.75% respectively.

Bad news for those looking forward to the earlier proposed LRT extension from Kelana Jaya to Subang Jaya. It has been postponed to at least 2013, which is 4 years from now. From what we have seen this isn’t the first time it has been postponed, the public has certainly been waiting many many years for this to materialize.

This story was carried by the Malay Mail and commented here.

According to the report,

It is learnt that Syarikat Prasarana Nasional Bhd (SBNB), the whollyowned government company (under Ministry of Finance Inc) set up to run key public transport companies, is facing difficulty sourcing the estimated RM5 billion for the 32km project.

The extensions to the existing Kelana Jaya-Gombak and Sri Petaling-Ampang lines were supposed to be ready by 2010, and were later delayed to 2011, the source said.

With the latest developments, the projected 700,000 daily commuters will have to wait till 2013 for the extended network to come on line.

Definitely bad news, especially those of us fed up with the traffic problems of Klang Valley…

Saw this in the news earlier:

AEON Co (M) Bhd yesterday acquired from Dwitasik Sdn Bhd a 6.25-acre plot of land in Bandar Sri Permaisuri here, together with a shopping centre to be erected on it, for a total of RM107.23 million cash.

The company will settle the purchase consideration through progressive payments.

The purchase price includes the building cost of RM80 million for the shopping centre (to be built by Dwitasik) and land cost of RM27.23 million.

Looks like another Jusco is co-miiiiing…! Wonder if Tesco is following suit, as usual? Oh wait, its always the other way around.

We ran this poll for a week from Feb 5 to Feb 12, and asking the question “Do you think neighbourhoods should be allowed to install their own gated & guarded system?”

We managed to get about 200 votes in total, and the results are overwhelmingly ‘Yes’ from our readers, shown below:

YES - 87%
NO - 13%
DON”T KNOW - 0%

It would seem that a lot of people are in favour of neighbourhoods having their own security system if they chose to. We believe most of the local councils in Selangor are pretty supportive of the idea, judging by the number of these enclaves that can be seen in the suburbs. Reader heck also pointed a pertinent issue - that this is closely tied to residents rising concern with crime:

Gated community is the way forward IMO. There are just too many uncertainties and the fact the police are not able to help, further escalate the need for quality gated community.
What I cannot understand is the lack of such development for landed properties. Mega developers such as Sime Darby are still ignorant about gated community except the new USJ Heights.

We tend to think that if developers are generally in favour of doing this for newly launched projects, it is a major selling point, unless they are aiming to cut down project costs and subsequently selling price. By and large most apartment projects have this, even at entry level prices (but of course maintenance over long periods of time is a different story).

Where: Mid Valley Exhibition Centre
When: 20 - 22 Feb 2009 (Fri - Sun)
Time: 11am - 9pm
Entrance is free

Hey, that’s actually THIS weekend. If you guys haven’t anything else on, you might want to check it out, maybe take some pics for me to post here. There will be plenty of talks going on, you can check here for details.

Reader has Wei Li has sent in some great recent pictures of Hijauan Residences in Cheras, developed by the Mah Sing group. The orinal review (posted May 2007) can be seen here.

Some interim progress pics have been posted below, click the links to see them:

Nov 2007
April 2008

Trust the creative mat sallehs to come up with this. Its a house like those toy ones we played with as kids. Located in a rural site in Suffolk, England, and dubbed the Sliding House, it has mobile walls and a roof that glides along rails to cover and uncover the static parts of the 28 meters long dwelling.

Its probably one of those concepts that look fantastic on paper, but doesn’t really work well in the long term, especially with the weather here… But looks great at night though.

Taken from here.

There has been a lot of talk in the newspapers about neighbourhoods setting up their own gated and guarded system. These are not newly launched communities, they are existing small neighbourhoods that have installed their own guardhouse, fence, and boom gate to screen through visitors entering their area.

If you drive into certain areas like Bandar Utama, Bandar Puteri Puchong or USJ, you can see this has become very common. On the one hand, owners argue that this has become a necessity to prevent crime in their neighbourhood, and the cost is usually borne by the Resident Association. The local councils and some critics disagree - once infrastructure is handed over to the local council, the roads, drains, parks and playgrounds should be open to public unless it is private property.

What do you think? Should local neighbourhoods be allowed to install their own gated system? Or do you disagree? Please vote and tell us what you think. Poll will run for a week until 12 Feb.

From the description:

Ha Long bay (literally: Descending Dragon bay; Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. The Ha Long bay, dotted with 3000 limestone islets rising from emerald waters, is the best known natural wonder of Vietnam. Because of their precipitous nature, most of the islands are uninhabited and unaffected by a human presence. The site’s outstanding scenic beauty is complemented by its great biological interest. The islands feature endless numbers of beaches, grottoes, and caves.

You can see the beautiful floating village here, or the full set of photos taken by the excellent photographer here.

For those who missed it, Bank Negara reduced the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 75 basis points to 2.5%, its single largest cut since the OPR was introduced in April 2004, outlining its growing concern on economic growth.

The ceiling and floor rates of the corridor for the OPR were correspondingly reduced to 2.75% and 2.25% respectively while the statutory reserve requirement (SRR) was also reduced from 3.5% to 2%, effective Feb 1, which was yesterday.

It would also means banks are paying less on the interest rates for fixed deposits (most banks are offering 2.7% for 12 months now), while offering lower base lending rate (BLR) on loans. Frankly lots of people we know have stopped seeing FDs as any sort of viable investment when the interest rate was up at 3.7%, more so now.