Sep 4, 2009

The going is good for real estate

THE property market in Penang in the third quarter of this year has become positive due to new pro-perty launches and pick up in the sub-sales sector, said Henry Butcher (Malaysia) Penang director Dr Teoh Poh Huat.

He said in an interview that the sub-sales transacted was mostly for strata-titled property that included landed and high-rise projects in gated communities.

“The price of these strata-titled propertys range between RM300,000 and RM800,000 while the landed property that were transacted range between RM700,000 and RM1.2mil,” Teoh said.

In the third quarter, he said Penang has seen more launches of high-end property than the first half of the year.

These projects included SP Setia’s Setia Vista, the Reflections, Ivory Properties’ Zen @The View, IJM Land’s The Linear, and Belleview Group’s Bukit Dumbar Residences.

“These projects, coupled with the 5:95 easy payment plan, which allowed buyers to pay just 5% for the property and the remaining 95% upon completion of the project, low interest rates, and low legal fees, have attracted local and foreign buyers,” he said.

The launch of these projects was also timely, as they coincided with the rebound in the regional property market, Teoh said.

“The rebound of property market in China and Hong Kong and the confidence of analysts in the local stock market has restored confidence to house buyers and investors.

”Thus while previously sitting on the sidelines, cautiously observing the local property market because of the global economic crisis, these house buyers and investors are now entering into the market again,” he said.

Prices of property in Penang, which had yet to drop in the first half of the year due to the gloal economic crisis, are expected to strengthen further by the end of the year, Teoh said.

“We expect this year’s crowd at the The Star Pro-perty Fair to be more affluent than last year’s, and looking for niche properties.

”We also expect more expatriates to visit the fair, due to the availability of value-added property in the country,” he said.

Teoh added that there would be more higher-end residential property exhibited at this year’s The Star Property Fair than a year ago.

The Star Property Fair 2009, organised by The Star in collaboration with Henry Butcher Malaysia and supported by The Expat Group, will feature the creme de la creme of property and will take place at the G Hotel on Sept 11, 12 and 13.

A ‘lifestyle’ section has also been introduced as an extension of the fair at the Gurney Plaza where visitors would find a varied selection of home improvement products and offerings with the aim of converting a property into a dream home.