More demand for secondary property

Prices of new homes in primary market too high for most people

Some 70% of residential property transacted in the country today are in the secondary market, while the remaining 30% are newly launched projects.

Raine & Horne Malaysia (Penang) director Michael Geh said more people were going after secondary property because of the pricing which ranged between RM72,000 and RM350,000.

“This market has been very active in the last 12 months and I foresee that it will be very active for the next six months, in terms of sales and rental,” he said at the recent Malaysian Secondary Property Exhibition (MASPEX) Penang 2013 at the Penang Times Square.

“Another reason for its popularity is that the secondary property is already built which means buyers can move in immediately.”

Geh said that in the primary market, many residential units were now being sold at a high price due to market demand and inflation among other factors.

“It is only due to the recent Bank Negara credit curbs that the rise in property prices has slowed a bit,” he said.

“These high price tags for new residential projects has made owning a home a distant dream for the middle class.

 “The rental market will thrive in such circumstances as more turn to renting instead of buying their own homes.”

On the affordability level of new houses, Geh said that according to the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, about 76% of urban wage earners in the country earned RM5,000 or less each month.

“This means 76% of the urban working population can’t afford to purchase their own homes in the primary market,” he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents president Siva Shanker said between 5,000 and 7,000 people visited the three-day fair.

“We received some 2,000 enquiries, and about 200 of them turned into sales,” he said.

“We are still gathering information on the deals closed at the fair.”

An estimated RM1.5billion worth of secondary property was showcased during the three-day event.

The event featured more than 1,000 units of residential property in Penang and a few in Kuala Lumpur.

The Star, 8/10/2013

Jaya Shopping Centre to open in March next year, 80% of retail space leased

Mall will offer cinema and supermarket as well as retail units as small as 100 sq ft for rent.



Jaya Shopping Centre to open in March next year, 80% of retail space leased

The new Jaya Shopping Centre will open its doors in March 2014 and will feature a mix of retail outlets spread out over seven floors. This will include dining options, supermarket, cinema and entertainment outlets as well as sportswear, fashion, children’s toys and gifts shops. It will also offer beauty and wellness spas, electronics and gadgets shops plus a banking hall.

 

“Jaya Shopping Centre was the first trading post for many local home-grown retailers. It was at Jaya Shopping Centre where they started and had their first big break. Three decades later, many of these retailers have become retail stars. And we have the privilege of having many of them returning to Jaya Shopping Centre,” said Jaya Section Fourteen Sdn Bhd director Ismail Ani Arope.

Ismail added, “We are continuing this legacy by offering smaller units for rent as small as 100 sq ft up to 800 sq ft to passionate young retailers with their interesting and unique merchandise. Due to the compact sizes of these units which translate to affordable monthly rental charges, these young entrepreneurs may be able to manage their cash flows. We encourage young entrepreneurs who have aspirations to have a presence in a retail centre to approach our exclusive leasing agent DTZ Nawawi Tie Leung Property Consultants with their concepts.”

“As a mid-sized and mid-end neighborhood shopping centre, Jaya Shopping Centre is perfect for shoppers who have an aversion to huge malls. As a community based retail centre, we want to inspire and empower entrepreneurs to follow their passion to be part of the vibrant and connected Jaya Shopping Centre,” said Ismail.

There is a dedicated zone located on Level 4 which emphasizes fun and creativity, breaking rules of normal straight shop fronts, tiled floors and lighting in regular arrangements. According to Ismail, the shops, irregular in size and shape will become platforms for young entrepreneurs and retailers.

With 270,000 sq ft net leasable area, the new Jaya Shopping Centre offers almost the double the retail space it  had before.

Built on an island site, the shopping centre will have dedicated ingress and egress lanes built parallel to Jalan 14/17 and Jalan Dato Jamil Rais 15. The most outstanding feature of Jaya Shopping Centre is the prominent five levels of glass curtain wall facing bustling Jalan Semangat which will allow visibility and interactivity between retailers and shoppers. This vibrancy will carry through to the ground floor alfresco dining concepts, says the mall’s developer.

The “boxed-out window frame” spaces on the façade will break the monotony of a plain exterior and showcase “happenings” within.

The verandah seating space on Level 3, in the Food and Beverage zone, meanwhile, is planned to be allow tenants to add alfresco dining options.  Furthermore, the skylight, will introduce natural light into the centre and “enlarge” the internal air-space visually.

“Every design decision was made with the aim of meeting the taste, lifestyle and demographics of the new PJ generation of retailers and consumers. We want the new generation of PJ’s community to feel proud of this new retail centre and we aim to meet its reputation of being a quality lifestyle hub, shopping spot and casual hangout,” Ismail added.

“Our positioning remains– Jaya Shopping Centre will again become the favorite neighborhood shopping place; a home outside home for the PJ population who lives and works in and around PJ and will continue to create strong ties with community and the next generation,” he said.

Jaya Shopping Centre will have four levels of basement parking that can accommodate 780 vehicles.  To date, it has achieved close to 80% take up rate.

The Star, 9/10/2013

Analysts expect RPGT to increase to 30% in Budget 2014 and pre-GST rush next year

PETALING JAYA: The local property sector may only see a real property gains tax (RPGT) increase in Budget 2014, according to a report by Kenanga Research.

It said it was expecting the tax rate to increase to 30% from 15% for properties sold within two years and 15% from 10% for properties sold within three to four years.

It said the 10% rate would remain unchanged for properties sold in the fifth year and zero RPGT for properties sold in the sixth year onwards.

“We believe this has been largely been discounted and priced-in somewhat, but we do expect some slight knee-jerk reactions for a couple of weeks post announcement,” it said. Budget 2014 will be tabled on Oct 25.

Kenanga Research also said the market could experience “panic buying” by investors next year if the goods and services tax (GST) was implemented in 2015.

“Experience from other countries had seen such trends in anticipation of future cost push inflations on asset prices.

 “This will benefit 2014 sales of developers as financing terms for the primary market is more favourable compared with that of the secondary market.

“We do expect developers to front-load their launches in 2014 on the back of higher demand, which will be a big booster to future earnings,” it said.

On the Johor property market, Kenanga said the restriction on foreigners from buying secondary properties from locals would be good for the rental market and new launches.

On the the 4% to 5% tax rate of the sales price of all properties, it said was unlikely to slow down demand from foreigners, especially Singaporeans, as properties in Singapore are three times to five times more expensive than Johor.

On another note, Kenanga said it did not expect the build-then-sell (BTS) model to be implemented in Malaysia.

“The Malaysian economy is not ready for a BTS model as many smaller developers will not be able to cope with such a model while larger developers with strong financial positions will likely price-in premiums of selling BTS properties.”

The Star, 9/10/2013