Seven New Malls for the Klang Valley This Year
with VMY 2014, albeit at a
moderate 6% pace in 2014,
after the relatively strong 7.2%
expansion projected for 2013.
Construction
Contracts to Drop
16% This Year
“We expect to see consumers
spend prudently, as they keep
consumption within their
budgets amid high household
debt and the 14.9% increase in
power tariff effective Jan 1.”
Artist impression of linkage between Nu Sentral and Kl Sentral monorail
station
The Klang Valley will see the
entry of new shopping malls this
year while others will go through
a makeover that will add more
space to the the retail property
segment.
Property consultant CH
Williams Talhar & Wong Sdn
Bhd managing director Foo
Gee Jen, in a report, noted that
this segment of the market
could expect steady growth,
as seven new malls and five
refurbishments, with a total
estimated net lettable area of
five million sq ft, were completed
by this year in the Klang Valley.
“Should these malls be
completed as scheduled, the
total cumulative supply as of
2014 will register at about 49
million sq ft of net lettable area.
“As most of the malls have preleased their retail space, it is
envisaged that the overall retail
sector will continue to remain
strong in terms of occupancy
and take-up, whilst rental levels
are expected to remain the
same,” he said.
Foo pointed out that consumer
spending in the country
remained strong. “Shopping is
a past-time for Malaysians,” he
said. Citing a survey, Foo claimed
that at least 20% of the urban
population in Malaysia spent
their weekends in shopping
malls.
“Going forward, I think people
may be a bit more cautious, in
light of the rising cost of living.
However, demand for essential
goods will continue to remain
steady,” he said.
The air of caution over private
consumption stems from
expectations that consumers
may start to feel the squeeze as
subsidy rationalisation, electricity
tariff hikes and a rise in property
taxes kick in. However, Foo
remained confident of consumer
spending based on the Visit
Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014
campaign, back-to-school period,
New Year sale and the Chinese
New Year season, with retail
sales to grow moderately in the
current quarter compared with
the fourth quarter ended Dec 31
despite the rising cost of living.
The retail property sector is still
expected to see steady growth
in 2014 despite the supply of
new malls into the market and
the rising cost of living, which
is unlikely to deter consumer
spending.
According to him, the malls
coming onstream this year
include The Strand, D’Pulze, Nu
Sentral (formerly known as Lot G,
KL Sentral), Main Place (formerly
Taipan Square/Newgate 21), Jaya
Shopping Centre, Quill City Mall
(formerly Vision City), Sunway
Pyramid Phase 3, M Square,
The Atria, Sunway Velocity
Lifestyle Mall, Sunway Putra Mall
(formerly known as The Mall) and
CapSquare Mall (refurbishme