Property Hunter Magazine Property Hunter Magazine Issue 52 - March 2014 | Page 59

Innovative Projects Will Attract More Buyers in KK I t is undeniable that the announcement of the Budget 2014 has caused the property industry a slight setback. However, group managing director of Remajaya Chua Soon Ping, believes that the market will recover in the second half of the year. He said, “From June onwards I expect the prices of properties to go up regardless if it is a new or second hand property. The implementation of the GST will increase building cost so naturally new projects that will be launched will also increase in price. Developers have no choice.” He adds: “The local government’s implementation of the new rule permitting only 80 residential units in one acre will further dry the market. But let’s see what happens by April 2015. Let’s see if the global market is still stable by then.” Chua who is behind the success of Bay 21, located at Likas Bay launched the dual key units, a crossover between the Phase 1 apartments with 3 bedrooms, and the Phase 2 business suite with one bedroom. The dual key units were launched during their Chinese New Year open house held recently at their sales gallery. Guest of honour Datuk Panglima Masidi Manjun minister of tourism, culture and environment Sabah urged developers to be responsible to the buyers and live up to their promises. He suggest that reputable developers go for less profit to gain the trust in buyers, and ‘hit and run’ developers will not survive for long especially in a small state such as Sabah. Masidi also advised developers to build more interesting and innovative projects like Bay21 TOO to attract more foreign investments. In 2013, Sabah had 207 chartered flights from China flying into Kota Kinabalu and it is expected that there will be an increase of interest in the local property market by these Chinese tourists. Looking Forward to a More Vibrant 2014 P roperty buyers should look forward to a vibrant 2014 says SBC Corporation Group senior sales and marketing manager Dennis Tan. The current market seems slightly bleak due to the new GST scheme and banks tightening their financing packages, however Tan is confident that things will pick up after the Chinese New Year celebration. He said, “A lot of new properties were on hold since last December because developers were still trying to figure out how to market and package their products due to all the changes and uncertainties. But the public can definitely expect developers to be more active in launching newer developments after the holidays.” SBC Corporation also aims to become more aggressive in their promotion especially to the foreign market. A series of upcoming events will be held to promote the balance units at the Peak SOHO. And the developer also has a few more projects in the pipeline including Jesselton Quey, a joint venture Suria Capital. Registration is ongoing to create awareness about this mix development. He adds: “Buyers are becoming more selective now with the projects they invest it. The main criteria they are looking for are projects by developers who have good track records in the past.” www.PropertyHunter.com.my 59