Property Hunter Magazine Issue 63- February 2015 | Page 48

WEST MALAYSIA PROPERTY NEWS

Foreigners Unlikely To Buy
Properties With Ringgit Fall

Damage To Property And
Infrastructure Close To RM1 Billion

Chan also said people looking for
properties could still find homes
selling at affordable prices under
RM400,000 on Penang island and
under RM250,000 on the mainland.
In Penang, the ceiling prices
for affordable homes are set at
RM400,000 and RM250,000 for
the island and Seberang Prai
respectively.

T

Penang REHDA Chairman,
Datuk Jerry Chan

he fall in the ringgit is unlikely
to attract foreign buyers
to snap up properties in
Malaysia, said the Penang Real
Estate and Housing Developers’
Association (REHDA).
Its chairman Datuk Jerry Chan said
foreign buyers would exercise
caution rather than buy properties
in Malaysia right away just because
the exchange rates favoured them.
He said foreign investors would wait
until there was stability in the ringgit.
“Now there is no stability yet. If
there are concerns that foreigner
buyers will cause property prices
to increase, I think we will not see
that happen.
“We won’t see an immediate effect
like that since they are not coming
in right away,” he told the media at
the Penang International Property
conference in Penang today.
Chan said local buyers would still
buy properties at the same value
of the ringgit and would not be
affected by any exchange rates.
According to Bloomberg, the
ringgit fell to 3.5862, the lowest
since July 2009, and has lost 2.4%
this year. The fall of the currency
follows the drop in oil prices, which
puts pressure on the Malaysian
government’s fiscal deficit target.

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Meanwhile, local government
exco Chow Kon Yeow was asked
to comment on the high density
issue in the state, which has been
blamed for causing congestion.
It has been a major concern among
residents and non-governmental
organisations in recent years that
certain areas on the island have
had an increased density from 30
units per acre to 87 units per acre.
Chow said that the policy allowing
higher density in certain areas
was because the state wanted to
ensure enough affordable homes
to cater to buyers in Penang.
“For developers to be able to build
affordable homes while keeping to
the ceiling prices fixed by the state,
the projects must also be made
sustainable, and that is by building
more units,” he said.
He added that the higher density
policy might not be a permanent
policy once the state had enough
affordable homes to go around.
It was reported that the Penang
government planned to build
about 50,000 affordable homes in
the state, with nearly 20,000 to be
built by the state-owned Penang
Development Corporation (PDC) in
Batu Kawan on the mainland and
on Jalan SP Chelliah on the island.

R

ealisation is starting to sink
in on just how devastating
the floods have been on the
country, infrastructure and people.
At the forefront are the thousands
of villagers who lost their homes
and those who lost their lives in
the disaster.
But as the nation moves to recover,
it is finding that there are more who
have also lost.
Among them are some 69,000
rubber smallholders and up to
50,000 oil palm planters whose
plantations are submerged.
They are suffering a loss in income
while a lengthy submersion in water
can damage the oil palm trees,
adding to the cost.
In the worst-hit east coast state of
Kelantan alone, there are about
150,000 farmers and livestock
breeders with destroyed padi fields
and vegetable plots, drowned
livestock and swamped fish ponds.
The total damage to property and
infrastructure in all the affected
states is still being tallied but already
the cost is close to RM1 billion.
Some officials announced estimates
yesterday totalling RM878 million.
This comprises RM350 million to
repair damaged schools in five

One of the worst floods in recent history
states, RM200 million in property
damage, RM100 million to repair
roads in Kelantan, RM132 million
to repair roads in Terengganu and
RM96 million to repair 93 collapsed
hillslopes along the damaged roads
in four states.
The tally does not include the
losses incurred by the rubber, oil
palm and agriculture sectors, which
are among the main economic
activities for residents of the east
coast states.
The National Association of Small
Holders (Nash) said that about
119,000 smallholders were affected
and that a survey to determine the
losses they suffered were ongoing.
“This has been a terrible flood and
worst hit are oil palm smallholders
in Pahang and Terengganu as well
as rubber smallholders in Kelantan,”
said Datuk Aliasak Ambia, president
of Nash.
He said the rubber smallholders
needed help in the form of
equipment, such as cups and
tapping knives, while the oil palm
smallholders were hoping for
fertiliser aid.
Nash has about 375,000 members
who each plant rubber, oil palm
and cocoa on plots of land less than
40ha.