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Property News

FHBH12

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Johor MB: RM1mil floor price for foreigners buying properties effective May 1
BY ZAZALI MUSA
Published: Saturday March 1, 2014 MYT 6:46:00 PM
Updated: Saturday March 1, 2014 MYT 6:48:54 PM

GELANG PATAH: The RM1mil floor price announced in Budget 2013 for foreigners buying properties in Malaysia will only take effect from May 1.

Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that the new ruling would not affect developers who had received the planning approval for their projects before the date.

He said this would give more time for developers to sell residential properties offered to foreign buyers at the previous minimum floor price of RM500,000 per unit.

“If we don’t give them more time, they (developers) will have problems selling the properties at the old price; hence there will be a property glut,’’ Mohamed Khaled said on Saturday.

He said this in a press conference at the pre-launch of 351 units of affordable houses priced between RM80,000 and RM150,000 per unit by UEM Sunrise Bhd here.

The company had also pledged to build 10,000 units of affordable houses, which would be located in Gerbang Nusajaya and to be launched in phases from this year onwards.

Effective March 1, foreigners buying properties in Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya have to pay RM1mil ceiling price, up from RM500,000 per unit previously.

The Economic Planning Unit in a statement released on Friday said in other states, the actual enforcement date was subject to the respective state authorities.

Asked whether the presence of international property developers in Iskandar Malaysia, especially from China, would create a glut in the property market in Johor, Mohamed Khaled said it was unlikely to happen.

He admitted there were concerns by some parties about the large-scale development projects by international property developers offering thousands of units of residential properties in one go.

“But, you must understand these are big players with strong financial background and we believe that they are able to sustain their projects and sell off their products,’’ said Mohamed Khaled.

Separately, he said the state government would take action against developers who failed to build affordable houses despite getting approval by the state authorities to build the houses years ago.

Mohamed Khaled said the state government had identified 100 developers which supposed to build 160,000 units of affordable houses but instead they focused on building other residential properties first neglecting their duties in providing affordable houses to the people.

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nati...utm_source=The+Star+Nation&utm_medium=twitter
 

FHBH12

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read the 2nd para.

but states can assign their own dates for enforcement, s

johor will sit on it for a while.

It seems that 1 May was announced again off the cuff, possibly without due process and formal channel through the state's authority website/circular.
 

malpaso

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It seems that 1 May was announced again off the cuff, possibly without due process and formal channel through the state's authority website/circular.

what "due process"? anyway more interestingly is the affordable housing by UEM. in gerbang nusajaya?
 

FHBH12

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It was a Budget Announcement. Don't they have parliament sittings to pass e bill? No opposition to debate?

The low cost housing location is really far at e industrial park near e port. Prob more to draw workers to tt area. No impact at all to typical housing project in Iskandar.
 

FHBH12

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10,000 low-cost homes for Gerbang Nusajaya
Mar 4, 2014 - PropertyGuru.com.my

In line with its commitment to build quality affordable houses for ordinary Malaysians, UEM Sunrise has pre-launched 351 low-cost units in Nusa Bayu last Saturday, and has pledged to build another 10,000 at Gerbang Nusajaya in the coming years.

According to Nusajaya’s master developer, the 351 affordable houses include 80 terrace homes (850 sq ft) priced at RM80,000 each, 241 terrace homes (1,000 sq ft) costing RM150,000, and 30 shop lots priced at RM200,000 each. These properties are expected to be completed by 2016.

The 321 low-cost houses were distributed via balloting, with Johor Chief Minister Dato’ Mohamed Khaled bin Nordin presenting the certificates to the lucky applicants. On the other hand, the 30 shop lots will be distributed separately.

At the pre-launch ceremony, representatives from SUK Bahagian Perumahan Negeri Johor also registered applicants for Phase 1A of UEM’s affordable housing project in Gerbang Nusajaya. This involves an initial batch of 1,380 units out of 10,000 units.

“The affordable homes we are offering supports the government’s various efforts in ensuring home ownership for all Malaysians,” said UEM Sunrise Executive Director Dato’ Izzaddin Idris.

Specifically, Phase 1A of the high-rise project in Gerbang Nusajaya comprises ‘Perumahan Komuniti Johor’ Type A (720 sq ft) priced at RM42,000 each, and Type B (850 sq ft) costing about RM80,000. It also includes ‘Rumah Mampu Milik Johor’ units (1,000 sq ft) priced at RM150,000 each.

Located near Gerbang Nusajaya’s upcoming transportation hub and industrial park, the high-rise project also has affordable maintenance and high-quality workmanship. Apart from Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), the project also features a linear park, recreational facilities and amenities that can be enjoyed by children, parents and grandparents.

“It will also include amenities and communal facilities such as mosque, integrated primary and secondary schools, multi-purpose hall, religious school and a neighbourhood community centre. A soft launch of the project is targeted to take place in Q3 2014,” added UEM Sunrise.

Farah Wahida, Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email [email protected]

http://www.propertyguru.com.my/property-news/2014/3/11969/10-000-low-cost-homes-for-gerbang-nusajaya
 

FHBH12

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S'poreans take wait-and-see approach to Johor property
Mar 5, 2014 - PropertyGuru.com.my

Despite the delayed implementation of the RM1 million (S$387,000) minimum property price threshold for foreigners in Johor, Singaporean buyers are unlikely to rush in, according to Khalil Adis, Founder of Khalil Adis Consultancy.

He noted that Singaporeans are used to the orderly and uniform implementation of policies in their home country.

“Without a similar framework in Malaysia and (given) the sudden implementation in federal controlled territories, I suspect they would rather wait out until the policy has been cast in stone.

“Singaporeans do not want to be caught in between where they suddenly find themselves unable to secure loans should they purchase properties below RM1 million. In Iskandar, for instance, only OCBC is willing to finance loans for properties less than RM1 million,” said Adis.

Moreover, buying interest in Iskandar among Singaporeans has cooled in recent months, despite the Singapore dollar racing to a 16-year high against the ringgit last month and the existence of special economic zones such as Medini, where foreigners can purchase properties below RM1 million with no real property gains tax (RPGT) up to 2020.

“I think this is due to the lack of clarity that arose from Malaysia’s Budget 2014. As far as we understand, the federal government decides what the measures will be (i.e. raising minimum purchase price) but the state has the prerogative to decide when to implement. This is what is causing the wait-and-see situation.

“Singaporeans now mainly want to understand the market, wait for the policies to be implemented and do lots of research until they are ready to go back to the market,” Adis added.

Last Saturday, the RM1 million minimum threshold for foreigners took effect in all federal administered territories – Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. But for Johor, the policy takes effect in May.

Previously, Penang was the only Malaysian state whereby foreigners were subject to the RM1 million price threshold for condominiums.

Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email [email protected]

http://www.propertyguru.com.my/prop...eans-take-wait-and-see-approach-to-johor-prop
 

FHBH12

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New methods may raise costs for developers
Govt to top up CPC Fund by $30m: Lee Yi Shyan
By Lynette Khoo
[email protected]
Published March 11, 2014

[SINGAPORE] Requiring developers to adopt productive technologies and prefabricated components in new projects, as announced by the Ministry of National Development (MND) yesterday, is widely expected to translate into higher costs for them in the short term.

Developers will have to adopt productive technologies for selected Government Land Sale (GLS) sites from the second half of this year, MND said during the Budget debate.

These technologies include prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) for hotels and residential projects and cross-laminated timber (CLT) for low and medium-rise buildings.

The use of prefabricated bathroom units (PBUs) will be mandated for all residential GLS sites; with industrial GLS sites, a minimum level of prefabrication will be required.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) can issue a stop-work order on a project which does not fall in with these requirements, which are being instituted to force construction firms here - laggards in productivity compared to their global peers - to buck up.

The BCA said yesterday that developers have a greater role to play in raising construction productivity because they drive building projects from their place at the top of the construction value chain.

BCA chief executive John Keung said the use of productive technologies can speed up completion of buildings, reduce dust and noise for people living near construction sites and reduce the risk of on-site accidents.

The use of PBUs for residential GLS sites is expected to save manpower by 60 per cent. More than 20 private residential projects have incorporated such bathrooms since 2005.

Mr Keung conceded that the initial adoption of these more productive construction methods may mean higher costs for some developers, but declined to provide an estimate.

The BCA will also progressively raise the bar on buildable designs and the use of labour-efficient construction methods this year and next year.

Lee Yi Shyan, Senior Minister of State for National Development, told Parliament yesterday that the government will top up the five-year Construction Productivity and Capability Fund (CPC Fund) by $30 million.

Since its launch with $250 million of capital in 2010, the fund has helped 4,000 companies, of which 80 per cent are small and medium-sized enterprises.

Mr Lee said: "We will explore a second five-year tranche of funding to continue our support to firms to raise construction productivity."

Singapore-listed Swee Hong, a major construction firm here, is a licensee for the PPVC technology. Its managing director Ong Hock Leong told The Business Times that the company may not make cost savings at the start because it is setting up a 100,000-sq-ft factory in Kranji Link to produce modular housing units. Costs will also be run up in training its staff and in storing and transporting the prefabricated units to the site.

"We expect a 5 to 20 per cent increase in costs compared to using conventional methods," Mr Ong said, but added that manpower savings also stand to be halved.

Developers that have used productive technologies say the initial costs are high, but that the gains in site productivity will eventually offset the incremental costs of adopting the new technologies.

Major developer City Developments Ltd (CDL), for instance, has already been using drywall for the internal partition walls and PBUs in most of its new condominium developments.

Allen Ang, the head of Green Building at CDL, said: "While the cost of prefabrication is still relatively high due to production, transportation and logistics issues, with the government's latest stringent measures in foreign-worker levies and PBUs now mandated, we expect a wider adoption of PBUs by developers.

"With economies of scale, the cost of PBUs should go down and could even be cheaper (to build) than conventional bathrooms in the long run."

The use of PBUs has yielded productivity improvements of 40 to 80 per cent for CDL.

Leading the way in the public sector, the Nanyang Technological University's upcoming hostel in North Hill will be the first project here to be built using PPVC.

Paul Chain, the chief executive of the university's Development & Facilities Management, said: "The cost savings are expected to be marginal as there is a trade-off between manpower savings and material and mechanisation costs."

To ensure an adequate supply of precasts and address a lack of space for manufacturing them, the BCA will call land tenders for the building of 10 multi-storey integrated construction and precast hubs by 2020.

The more than 20 pre-cast suppliers here are now able to meet the bulk of demand here; imports meet no more than 10-20 per cent of the demand for pre-casts.

As an interim measure, BCA said it is extending the leases of existing pre-casters where possible; it will also provide temporary precast storage land and import pre-casts from Malaysia and other sources.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/top-stories/new-methods-may-raise-costs-developers-20140311
 
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