Mah Sing Eyes Bigger Affordable Housing Stake
Its 480 acres in Rawang will
offer mostly link houses priced
from RM400,000; phase one
of Southville@KL South on 428
acres in Bangi will comprise
mainly affordable apartments
priced from RM338,000; and the
1,352 acres in Bandar Meridin
East will have mostly affordably
priced linked houses.
Mah Sing’s group managing
director cum group CEO Tan Sri
Leong Hoy Kum
Mah Sing Group Bhd’s
landbanking strategy of locking
in large tracts of township land
is sharpening the developer’s
competitive edge to carve a
bigger market share in the
affordable housing sector.
Following the Government’s
market cooling measures that
also involved the tightening of
bank lending guidelines, the
mid-end property market looks
likely to make up the bulk of new
house purchases going forward.
Mah Sing group managing
director cum group chief
executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy
Kum said that for 2014, 81% of
the company’s target residential
launches would comprise mainly
mass to mid-segment products
priced at RM700,000 and below.
The company has a remaining
landbank of 2,818 acres worth a
gross development value (GDV)
of RM26.82bil. It is targeting to
improve sales by 20% from the
2013 level of RM3bil.
Mah Sing will be one of the
biggest exhibitors at this year’s
Starproperty Fair to be held at
Setia City Convention Centre in
Shah Alam from May 30- June
1, in Penang at Gurney Plaza
from July 24-27, in Petaling Jaya
at Tropicana City Mall from Oct
17-19, and also at the Kuala
Lumpur Convention Centre from
Nov 21-23.
“Our projects are targeted at
buyers who buy for own use
or for long-term rental income.
Hence the take-up rate of our
projects has not been much
impacted,” Leong said.
Leong said several research
houses concurred that property
demand might improve this
year due to the impending
implementation of the goods
and service tax (GST) in April
2015.
“Buyers are expected to take
advantage of the current
accommodative interest rate
regime given the experience
in other countries where
buyers purchased properties in
anticipation of future cost-push
inflation on asset prices,” he
added.
Although Mah Sing has shifted its
focus to mass-market products
to cater to the average buyers,
it is still maintaining some
higher-end products in selected
locations. These include One
Legenda in Cheras comprising
3-storey bungalows, Aspen
in Cyberjaya within a resort
environment, M City in the heart
of Kuala Lumpur, Icon City, and
Icon Residence.
Leong said key projects by Mah
Sing this year included The
Meridin@Medini in Iskandar
Malaysia, Johor, an 8.19-acre
integrated development
comprising the Meridin Linx
SoVo, Meridin Exchange
Corporate Towers, Meridin Walk
Lifestyle Retail and Office Tower
and a Wellness Residential
Enclave, with a total GDV of
RM1.1 billion.
In the second and final
phase of the project, there
will be affordable small sized
commercial units, the Meridin
Suites and Meridin Sovo.
Also in Johor, the RM5 billion
Bandar Meridin East is a
proposed 1,352 acre-integrated
township within the vicinity of
Masai-Pasir Gudang-Tg Langsat
eastern growth corridor.
In the Klang Valley, Southville
City@KL South in Bangi is
expected to see strong demand
for its 2½-storey linked houses
with built-up of 2,650 sq ft priced
from RM860,000.
Meanwhile, Star Residence, an
integrated project in Subang
Bestari, is a purpose built
development comprising
serviced apartments and
shops. In the first phase,
serviced apartments from 682
sq ft, indicatively priced from
RM307,800, will cater to buyers
working in Subang Airport and
the nearby business parks.
Lakeville Residence in Taman
Wahyu, Kepong, offers serviced
residences with indicative
built-up from 950 sq ft, 1,200
sq ft and above. The residential
units have indicative price from
RM668,800.
The other projects include M
Residence 3 in Rawang and
D’Sara Sentral in Sungai Buloh\.
In Penang, Ferringhi Residence
in Batu Ferringhi is preparing
to launch phase two to keep
up with spill over demand
from phase one resort condo
villas and to benefit from the
proposed Teluk Bahang-Tanjung
Bungah new paired road.
In Southbay City, the largest
phase on 34.5 acres of the
massive Southbay township will
feature integrated commercial
and lifestyle developments made
up of a mixture of residential
suites, office suites, Grade A
offices, retail outlets, hotel and
resort, and other recreational
attractions.
Another project in Penang is
The Loft, located about 1km
from the second Penang bridge,
consisting of two towers housing
78 serviced residences on each
block. The luxury residential
suites have built-up of 1,378 sq ft
to 1,680 sq ft.
In Sabah, KK Convention City
along the coastal highway will
comprise a luxury hotel, office
towers, shop offices, lifestyle
retail, a business hotel and
serviced residences.
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