Think the nearest is Nusantara Prima.
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New developments to share
- Thread starter wuqi256
- Start date
Think the nearest is Nusantara Prima.
Nusa Bayu is nearest.
wont la..... umno so racist, they will just take money and keep status quo
Ming kor kor,
Based on the GPS coordinates, Nusantara Prima is between the terminal and Nusa Bayu lei. How?
Base on line of sight, Nusantara Prima is nearest. both need to walk along the highway with elevation slope to reach.
Here don't pakey walk or cycle. Almost everyone would drive their smallish kancil car anywhere.
UPENJ: Tax revision on Johor properties won't hurt
THE Johor Economic Planning Unit (UPENJ) says the state government's proposal to increase the tax on foreign-owned properties in Johor will not dampen market demand.
"Such revisions will not be a burden on property owners, whether local or foreign, and will not dampen the property market," UPENJ deputy director Dr Badrul Hisham Kassim tells The Edge.
The economic planning unit has been tasked by the state government to study the proposal.
"It is still under discussion and evaluation by the state authorities, taking into account the implementation mechanism and market feedback," says Badrul.
The Edge has learnt that UPENJ met state executive committee members during the week of June 3-9, to discuss the matter.
"The assessment rates in Johor have not been reviewed in over 30 years — that is a long time. It is fair that a review is done now, but the publicity over the matter will only damage sentiment unnecessarily," says an industry source.
Developers with major projects in the state such as Mah Sing Group Bhd, UEM Land Holdings Bhd, Sunway Bhd and S P Setia Bhd, have seen their counters falling by 6.25%, 7.43%, 9.37% and 4.61% respectively over that week to June 8, partly because of concerns that the tax revision would deter foreign purchases.
But some believe that the proposal could benefit the Johor property market in the long term and only have a minimal impact on foreign buying interest.
"The increase in the volume of properties requires more services to be provided to improve the quality of living in Iskandar Malaysia," says Samuel Tan, executive director of KGV International Property Consultants.
For this reason, the local councils need to ensure that they increase their revenue to deliver better services, he tells The Edge.
"There is also a need to differentiate the property tax to be paid by foreigners vis-à-vis the locals. This is a reasonable measure provided the different rate is not seen as too discriminating," says Samuel.
According to Rozalina Abdul Rahim, iProperty.com's head of developer sales for Malaysia, the proposed tax increase is only fair and in the long term, would be better for the market provided the amenities being provided are up to international standards promised.
"Such upgrading of facilities and amenities will mean greater appreciation in the prices of Iskandar properties in the future," says Rozalina, who was formerly with UEM Land.
"It all boils down to implementation, and I think it will be good because so far, the authorities have delivered what they promised on time."
She adds that foreign purchases will likely not be affected by any rise in taxes because properties in Iskandar will remain cheaper than those in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and mainland China, for example.
Even after the announcement on the tax rise, Iskandar properties remain "very hot", she says. Any impact will only be seen on the high-end million dollar properties that draw foreign buyers, and not so much the medium-range properties which largely cater for locals, she adds.
High-end offerings in Nusajaya, Puteri Harbour, Medini and East Ledang have no foreign quota and foreign buyers make up 50% to 70% of sales in these projects.
However, the wait-and-see attitude among foreign buyers may prevail for a while as they digest the developments that remain unclear at the moment, says Tan Ka Leong, director at CH Williams Talhar & Wong.
Be that as it may, foreign buyers only comprises an average of 20% in the state, with purchasers largely from Singapore.
"In the last two years, we have seen growing interest from Japan especially, but also Hong Kong and Korea," Ka Leong tells The Edge.
"But even with the growing interest, I don't think they will ever catch up to the Singaporeans, who have a lot of confidence in capital appreciation in these properties."
Analysts say the property revaluation exercise to be carried out will likely involve a rise in the "improved value" of properties on which assessment tax or "cukai pintu" is levied.
"The different municipalities in Johor have the right to review this value every five years, but the last time any of them did so was around 1995/96," Ka Leong laments. So it really is the right time to revisit these valuations and subsequently, the state may decide to impose different assessment tax rates on locals and foreigners, he adds.
The current assessment rates for areas under Majlis Perbandaran Johor Bahru are 0.13% for residential, 0.26% for commercial and 0.28% for industrial properties.
Even if assessment rates are increased, there will be little impact on homeowners because on average, assessment tax accounts for only 1% to 2% per annum of total overall property owner expenses.
However, KGV's Samuel points out that there is a risk of double taxing if tax rates for foreigners and assessment rates are hiked simultaneously.
"The mechanism is already in place where different rates are levied on different types of properties. Technically, this is already taken care of in our present assessment system and we should avoid double taxing."
Furthermore, assessment is about the services provided and should not discriminate between locals and foreigners, he notes. "Unless a particular location is enjoying a better range of services, whether they are locals or foreigners should not make a difference.”
Sent from my iPad
THE Johor Economic Planning Unit (UPENJ) says the state government's proposal to increase the tax on foreign-owned properties in Johor will not dampen market demand.
"Such revisions will not be a burden on property owners, whether local or foreign, and will not dampen the property market," UPENJ deputy director Dr Badrul Hisham Kassim tells The Edge.
The economic planning unit has been tasked by the state government to study the proposal.
"It is still under discussion and evaluation by the state authorities, taking into account the implementation mechanism and market feedback," says Badrul.
The Edge has learnt that UPENJ met state executive committee members during the week of June 3-9, to discuss the matter.
"The assessment rates in Johor have not been reviewed in over 30 years — that is a long time. It is fair that a review is done now, but the publicity over the matter will only damage sentiment unnecessarily," says an industry source.
Developers with major projects in the state such as Mah Sing Group Bhd, UEM Land Holdings Bhd, Sunway Bhd and S P Setia Bhd, have seen their counters falling by 6.25%, 7.43%, 9.37% and 4.61% respectively over that week to June 8, partly because of concerns that the tax revision would deter foreign purchases.
But some believe that the proposal could benefit the Johor property market in the long term and only have a minimal impact on foreign buying interest.
"The increase in the volume of properties requires more services to be provided to improve the quality of living in Iskandar Malaysia," says Samuel Tan, executive director of KGV International Property Consultants.
For this reason, the local councils need to ensure that they increase their revenue to deliver better services, he tells The Edge.
"There is also a need to differentiate the property tax to be paid by foreigners vis-à-vis the locals. This is a reasonable measure provided the different rate is not seen as too discriminating," says Samuel.
According to Rozalina Abdul Rahim, iProperty.com's head of developer sales for Malaysia, the proposed tax increase is only fair and in the long term, would be better for the market provided the amenities being provided are up to international standards promised.
"Such upgrading of facilities and amenities will mean greater appreciation in the prices of Iskandar properties in the future," says Rozalina, who was formerly with UEM Land.
"It all boils down to implementation, and I think it will be good because so far, the authorities have delivered what they promised on time."
She adds that foreign purchases will likely not be affected by any rise in taxes because properties in Iskandar will remain cheaper than those in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and mainland China, for example.
Even after the announcement on the tax rise, Iskandar properties remain "very hot", she says. Any impact will only be seen on the high-end million dollar properties that draw foreign buyers, and not so much the medium-range properties which largely cater for locals, she adds.
High-end offerings in Nusajaya, Puteri Harbour, Medini and East Ledang have no foreign quota and foreign buyers make up 50% to 70% of sales in these projects.
However, the wait-and-see attitude among foreign buyers may prevail for a while as they digest the developments that remain unclear at the moment, says Tan Ka Leong, director at CH Williams Talhar & Wong.
Be that as it may, foreign buyers only comprises an average of 20% in the state, with purchasers largely from Singapore.
"In the last two years, we have seen growing interest from Japan especially, but also Hong Kong and Korea," Ka Leong tells The Edge.
"But even with the growing interest, I don't think they will ever catch up to the Singaporeans, who have a lot of confidence in capital appreciation in these properties."
Analysts say the property revaluation exercise to be carried out will likely involve a rise in the "improved value" of properties on which assessment tax or "cukai pintu" is levied.
"The different municipalities in Johor have the right to review this value every five years, but the last time any of them did so was around 1995/96," Ka Leong laments. So it really is the right time to revisit these valuations and subsequently, the state may decide to impose different assessment tax rates on locals and foreigners, he adds.
The current assessment rates for areas under Majlis Perbandaran Johor Bahru are 0.13% for residential, 0.26% for commercial and 0.28% for industrial properties.
Even if assessment rates are increased, there will be little impact on homeowners because on average, assessment tax accounts for only 1% to 2% per annum of total overall property owner expenses.
However, KGV's Samuel points out that there is a risk of double taxing if tax rates for foreigners and assessment rates are hiked simultaneously.
"The mechanism is already in place where different rates are levied on different types of properties. Technically, this is already taken care of in our present assessment system and we should avoid double taxing."
Furthermore, assessment is about the services provided and should not discriminate between locals and foreigners, he notes. "Unless a particular location is enjoying a better range of services, whether they are locals or foreigners should not make a difference.”
Sent from my iPad
Crash on the horizon for Malaysian properties. Seems like it.
Will Bank Negara’s recent loan regulations herald a local credit crunch and bursting of the bubble?
These are interesting times, said a property consultant over lunch recently. The pumping of liquidity by the US, UK, Europe and Japan into their economies, and by extension into the world, by the trillions of dollars, has been on an unprecedented scale. It’s like being part of a mass global experiment, the results of which we’re not quite sure, but will surely be of massive consequences.
So far, quantitative easing seems to have worked. The US is showing positive figures and we have not seen the collapse of capitalism. The “we are the 99%”-ers have not taken over from the purported 1% Illuminati controlling the world’s wealth and economy. Nor has the US fallen off a fiscal cliff.
The Occupy movement still continues but seems to have lost momentum–Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP
In Malaysia, we have smugly ridden out the turmoils. While the property market has frozen for several years in the UK, banks still push you credit cards here (I just picked up a cool suitcase, Ikea freebies and travel miles upon approval) and people don’t think twice about eating out on RM50 per person.
In terms of property, launches have been aplenty, and panel bankers line up to serve you. Prices in some places have doubled since 2008 and we can even now take over parts of London… Malaysia boleh!
What, me worry?
If you were to read Bank Negara’s latest Financial Stability and Payment Systems Report 2012, everything sounds hunky dory. The percentage of impaired (or non-performing) loans dropped last year to 1.5% for household loans, down from 1.8% in 2011 and 2.3% in 2010.
“Indicators of aggregate household resilience are sound with total and liquid household financial buffers remaining stable,” goes the report. “More importantly, indicators in the banking sector continue to support the sound overall credit quality of household loans from the banking system.”
All very controlled and dependable, just like our iron banking lady, Tan Sri Zeti Aziz, it seems.
Special advisor to Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) Dr Lim Mah Hui (left) and CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris showing charts on the comparison of household debt and disposable income as well as the debt service ratio in Malaysia.
Yes, Bank Negara may have lost a bit of cool recently by admitting that profligate loans have encouraged households to accumulate excessive debt. Housing, car, credit card and personal loans have increased “at a strong pace”–12% per year over the last few years–and now represents 81% of our national income.
This is risky because if interest rates rise and the economy falters, people will lose jobs and find it difficult to pay their debts; banks then would be out of money which they owe to deposit holders or other banks.
To counter this, Bank Negara recently announced it would limit mortgage tenures to 35 years. It may also curb developer interest-bearing schemes (DIBS)–where property builders pay for buyers’ loan interests during construction. Luckily, all these are calculated moves to slow down rather than crash a vibrant property market, aren’t they?
Over the last couple of weeks, however, we’ve been hearing phrases which would not normally be mentioned crop up: bad words like “interest rates increase”, “capital flight”, and “price correction”. Do we possibly see the tide turning?
Interest rates won’t rise, or will they?
Bernanke testified in Capitol Hill recently that there is a risk that Congressional fiscal policy “will restrain economic growth over the next few quarters by more than we currently expect.”–Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP
Economy watchers have for some time placed any increase in interest rates beyond the immediate future, next year at the earliest.
Low interest rates have provided cheap and easy credit and mortgages in Malaysia have grown steadily. Last year, more than half of all household loans–56%–were for buying properties, said Bank Negara’s report. The proportion of them taking multiple loans, furthermore, had risen, “signaling a resumption in demand for housing credit for investment purposes”.
After all, advertisements tout property as a means of achieving wealth and financial freedom. Gurus tell you that if you stretch your loans out, your monthly instalments will come out lower than your rentals (“positive cash flow”), and with enough properties, you may even quit your job!
Recently however, US Federal Reserve chief, Ben Bernanke (the American Tan Sri Zeti) indicated that it might begin tapering off quantitative easing as long as labour markets continue to improve. Although he’s qualified this in several aspects, US interest rates have risen in response, making the dollar and US assets possibly attractive propositions again. Many thus anticipate funds, which had flowed into emerging markets during the financial crisis, to flow back to the US and Europe again.
Manulife Asset Management Services Bhd chief investment officer Jason Chong indeed hinted that there may be a possible mass-exit of foreign investors from the Malaysian bond, money or equity markets.
To stem this capital flight, and also to protect attendant currency falls, India and Indonesia have increased interest rates up to 2%. Bank of Canada has also said that it would “gradually normalize” borrowing costs over time as the slack in the economy disappears and inflation picks up. Brazil, meanwhile, increased rates 0.5% to battle inflation. Here in Malaysia, Standard Chartered made the recent, bold prediction that rates might increase by 0.25% as early as November.
What would be its impact? For me, it means an increase in monthly instalments of RM100 per month. Imagine if I had three mortgages and my instalments went up on all of them? If I were a professional landlord, I could now be cash flow negative with my dreams of financial freedom soured.
Another development to tighten funds would be the Basel III reforms, which require the world’s banks to have enough cash in their vaults and not to lend out too much, to avoid further banking failures. Bank Negara is confident that our banks would have no problem meeting the requirements by 2018, but it would surely mean a constraint on lending.
Already, word on the ground from property sales people goes that some banks are starting to approve only 80% loans for those already servicing another residential property loan.
Potential correction
The figures show noticeable spikes in the Malaysian House Price Index and Index of Units Launched by Price for properties priced above RM1mil from late 2010.
Investors have also started talking about a “potential correction” in the property market, that runaway property prices indicate the top of a property cycle.
“There are risks faced by Malaysian banks in relation to high household debt and a potential correction in the country’s property market, but we think there is a low likelihood of these risks playing out in the next 12 to 18 months,” said credit ratings firm Moody’s in Singapore recently.
The property life cycle, as drawn out by real estate blogger AgentDiary, postulates that Malaysia is at the top of the cycle, with characteristics including transaction price peak and the “property price never drops” rhetoric.
You wouldn’t have known it from the primary market. YTL Land & Development Bhd’s preview of its Fennel project in Sentul East, priced at RM700 per sq ft, sold out two blocks within two days.
Low Yat Group’s Tribeca project on Jalan Imbi has managed to sell at prices ranging from RM1,800 to RM2,400 per sq ft to mainly foreign buyers.
Even at stratospheric prices between RM1,800 to RM2,400 per sq ft, Low Yat Group sold almost half its apartments in its Tribeca project on Jalan Imbi. Arcoris Mont’Kiara by UEM Sunrise Bhd, meanwhile, managed to chart about 90% of sales before its show units debuted to the public. The majority of Tribeca’s units were sold to foreign buyers, from the likes of Indonesia, China and Taiwan, however, while Arcoris’ developers gave significant rebates as sales incentives.
Arcoris Mont’Kiara has seen nearly complete take-up, as packaged with significant incentives.
Property investor Michael Tan reckons that if there were to be a bubble bursting, it could happen within the next couple of years, when many projects bought during the 2010 to 2012 property bull run are completed: “Many were sold on DIBS, so buyers didn’t fork out any cash until completion, not to mention all the attractive rebates. But when the properties come on stream, many will be looking to flip or rent out, and that will be the first test: whether they can find buyers or tenants.”
In terms of housing affordability, the ratio of average house prices in Malaysia, in relation to household income, comes in at about four. In rapidly emerging markets, this is still acceptable, noted valuer Elvin Fernandez has said. However, the figure rises to six, seven or even eight in certain areas of the country, he adds, and this is similar to the ratios that were seen in American houses prices “before they crashed down towards the figure of three during the sub-prime crisis, and three is some kind of gravitational pull for house prices”.
A return to Danaharta?
Mitraland Group chairman Dato’ Johan Ariffin (left) and group CEO Chuah Theong Yee believe that regulation of the property market will benefit the industry in the long run.
Datuk Johan Ariffin, previous senior GM for Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd’s property division, and now chairman of property developer Mitraland Sdn Bhd, doesn’t believe there will be a return to the last Asian Financial Crisis however. So many loans defaulted then that the government formed Danaharta to buy them out from cash-poor banks.
“No, it’s a different landscape today,” says Johan who also sits on the board of Maybank and Sime Darby Properties. “Then, it was a currency thing, many people had overgeared and businesses had borrowed too much. Today, our banks are much stronger, they have been recapitalised and are very well run compared to 12 years ago. It would take a lot for something to affect the whole system.”
One thing’s for sure, restrictions cool buyer sentiments, such as when the 70% loan cap for the third home and net income rule were announced in 2010 and last year, respectively.
Bank Negara’s regulations may dampen sales but they will weed out speculators, says Dato’ Johan Ariffin, chairman of Mitraland Group which develops projects such as 16 Quartz in Taman Melawati, pictured.
“While it may have taken us three months to hit 60% sales in the past, today it takes us six months to do it, because your buyers come, they are interested but they can’t qualify for a loan then you have to find new buyers,” says Johan.
This means that developers must have enough funds to tie them over a delay in sales. “In our cash flow planning, we already anticipate and make provision for a longer initial sales period. This just means less speculators and more genuine buyers.”
So is everything really under control then, as Bank Negara intimates? Are we just having a controlled slowdown rather than a crash? As a property watcher said over breakfast, you never know. Just like in the late ‘90s, the Asian Financial Crisis took most of us by surprise. We are living in one of history’s largest financial experiments, though, and whether Malaysian property sees a harsh or soft ride towards fundamental values will surely be affected by its outcome… Watch this space.
Will Bank Negara’s recent loan regulations herald a local credit crunch and bursting of the bubble?
These are interesting times, said a property consultant over lunch recently. The pumping of liquidity by the US, UK, Europe and Japan into their economies, and by extension into the world, by the trillions of dollars, has been on an unprecedented scale. It’s like being part of a mass global experiment, the results of which we’re not quite sure, but will surely be of massive consequences.
So far, quantitative easing seems to have worked. The US is showing positive figures and we have not seen the collapse of capitalism. The “we are the 99%”-ers have not taken over from the purported 1% Illuminati controlling the world’s wealth and economy. Nor has the US fallen off a fiscal cliff.
The Occupy movement still continues but seems to have lost momentum–Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP
In Malaysia, we have smugly ridden out the turmoils. While the property market has frozen for several years in the UK, banks still push you credit cards here (I just picked up a cool suitcase, Ikea freebies and travel miles upon approval) and people don’t think twice about eating out on RM50 per person.
In terms of property, launches have been aplenty, and panel bankers line up to serve you. Prices in some places have doubled since 2008 and we can even now take over parts of London… Malaysia boleh!
What, me worry?
If you were to read Bank Negara’s latest Financial Stability and Payment Systems Report 2012, everything sounds hunky dory. The percentage of impaired (or non-performing) loans dropped last year to 1.5% for household loans, down from 1.8% in 2011 and 2.3% in 2010.
“Indicators of aggregate household resilience are sound with total and liquid household financial buffers remaining stable,” goes the report. “More importantly, indicators in the banking sector continue to support the sound overall credit quality of household loans from the banking system.”
All very controlled and dependable, just like our iron banking lady, Tan Sri Zeti Aziz, it seems.
Special advisor to Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) Dr Lim Mah Hui (left) and CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris showing charts on the comparison of household debt and disposable income as well as the debt service ratio in Malaysia.
Yes, Bank Negara may have lost a bit of cool recently by admitting that profligate loans have encouraged households to accumulate excessive debt. Housing, car, credit card and personal loans have increased “at a strong pace”–12% per year over the last few years–and now represents 81% of our national income.
This is risky because if interest rates rise and the economy falters, people will lose jobs and find it difficult to pay their debts; banks then would be out of money which they owe to deposit holders or other banks.
To counter this, Bank Negara recently announced it would limit mortgage tenures to 35 years. It may also curb developer interest-bearing schemes (DIBS)–where property builders pay for buyers’ loan interests during construction. Luckily, all these are calculated moves to slow down rather than crash a vibrant property market, aren’t they?
Over the last couple of weeks, however, we’ve been hearing phrases which would not normally be mentioned crop up: bad words like “interest rates increase”, “capital flight”, and “price correction”. Do we possibly see the tide turning?
Interest rates won’t rise, or will they?
Bernanke testified in Capitol Hill recently that there is a risk that Congressional fiscal policy “will restrain economic growth over the next few quarters by more than we currently expect.”–Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP
Economy watchers have for some time placed any increase in interest rates beyond the immediate future, next year at the earliest.
Low interest rates have provided cheap and easy credit and mortgages in Malaysia have grown steadily. Last year, more than half of all household loans–56%–were for buying properties, said Bank Negara’s report. The proportion of them taking multiple loans, furthermore, had risen, “signaling a resumption in demand for housing credit for investment purposes”.
After all, advertisements tout property as a means of achieving wealth and financial freedom. Gurus tell you that if you stretch your loans out, your monthly instalments will come out lower than your rentals (“positive cash flow”), and with enough properties, you may even quit your job!
Recently however, US Federal Reserve chief, Ben Bernanke (the American Tan Sri Zeti) indicated that it might begin tapering off quantitative easing as long as labour markets continue to improve. Although he’s qualified this in several aspects, US interest rates have risen in response, making the dollar and US assets possibly attractive propositions again. Many thus anticipate funds, which had flowed into emerging markets during the financial crisis, to flow back to the US and Europe again.
Manulife Asset Management Services Bhd chief investment officer Jason Chong indeed hinted that there may be a possible mass-exit of foreign investors from the Malaysian bond, money or equity markets.
To stem this capital flight, and also to protect attendant currency falls, India and Indonesia have increased interest rates up to 2%. Bank of Canada has also said that it would “gradually normalize” borrowing costs over time as the slack in the economy disappears and inflation picks up. Brazil, meanwhile, increased rates 0.5% to battle inflation. Here in Malaysia, Standard Chartered made the recent, bold prediction that rates might increase by 0.25% as early as November.
What would be its impact? For me, it means an increase in monthly instalments of RM100 per month. Imagine if I had three mortgages and my instalments went up on all of them? If I were a professional landlord, I could now be cash flow negative with my dreams of financial freedom soured.
Another development to tighten funds would be the Basel III reforms, which require the world’s banks to have enough cash in their vaults and not to lend out too much, to avoid further banking failures. Bank Negara is confident that our banks would have no problem meeting the requirements by 2018, but it would surely mean a constraint on lending.
Already, word on the ground from property sales people goes that some banks are starting to approve only 80% loans for those already servicing another residential property loan.
Potential correction
The figures show noticeable spikes in the Malaysian House Price Index and Index of Units Launched by Price for properties priced above RM1mil from late 2010.
Investors have also started talking about a “potential correction” in the property market, that runaway property prices indicate the top of a property cycle.
“There are risks faced by Malaysian banks in relation to high household debt and a potential correction in the country’s property market, but we think there is a low likelihood of these risks playing out in the next 12 to 18 months,” said credit ratings firm Moody’s in Singapore recently.
The property life cycle, as drawn out by real estate blogger AgentDiary, postulates that Malaysia is at the top of the cycle, with characteristics including transaction price peak and the “property price never drops” rhetoric.
You wouldn’t have known it from the primary market. YTL Land & Development Bhd’s preview of its Fennel project in Sentul East, priced at RM700 per sq ft, sold out two blocks within two days.
Low Yat Group’s Tribeca project on Jalan Imbi has managed to sell at prices ranging from RM1,800 to RM2,400 per sq ft to mainly foreign buyers.
Even at stratospheric prices between RM1,800 to RM2,400 per sq ft, Low Yat Group sold almost half its apartments in its Tribeca project on Jalan Imbi. Arcoris Mont’Kiara by UEM Sunrise Bhd, meanwhile, managed to chart about 90% of sales before its show units debuted to the public. The majority of Tribeca’s units were sold to foreign buyers, from the likes of Indonesia, China and Taiwan, however, while Arcoris’ developers gave significant rebates as sales incentives.
Arcoris Mont’Kiara has seen nearly complete take-up, as packaged with significant incentives.
Property investor Michael Tan reckons that if there were to be a bubble bursting, it could happen within the next couple of years, when many projects bought during the 2010 to 2012 property bull run are completed: “Many were sold on DIBS, so buyers didn’t fork out any cash until completion, not to mention all the attractive rebates. But when the properties come on stream, many will be looking to flip or rent out, and that will be the first test: whether they can find buyers or tenants.”
In terms of housing affordability, the ratio of average house prices in Malaysia, in relation to household income, comes in at about four. In rapidly emerging markets, this is still acceptable, noted valuer Elvin Fernandez has said. However, the figure rises to six, seven or even eight in certain areas of the country, he adds, and this is similar to the ratios that were seen in American houses prices “before they crashed down towards the figure of three during the sub-prime crisis, and three is some kind of gravitational pull for house prices”.
A return to Danaharta?
Mitraland Group chairman Dato’ Johan Ariffin (left) and group CEO Chuah Theong Yee believe that regulation of the property market will benefit the industry in the long run.
Datuk Johan Ariffin, previous senior GM for Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd’s property division, and now chairman of property developer Mitraland Sdn Bhd, doesn’t believe there will be a return to the last Asian Financial Crisis however. So many loans defaulted then that the government formed Danaharta to buy them out from cash-poor banks.
“No, it’s a different landscape today,” says Johan who also sits on the board of Maybank and Sime Darby Properties. “Then, it was a currency thing, many people had overgeared and businesses had borrowed too much. Today, our banks are much stronger, they have been recapitalised and are very well run compared to 12 years ago. It would take a lot for something to affect the whole system.”
One thing’s for sure, restrictions cool buyer sentiments, such as when the 70% loan cap for the third home and net income rule were announced in 2010 and last year, respectively.
Bank Negara’s regulations may dampen sales but they will weed out speculators, says Dato’ Johan Ariffin, chairman of Mitraland Group which develops projects such as 16 Quartz in Taman Melawati, pictured.
“While it may have taken us three months to hit 60% sales in the past, today it takes us six months to do it, because your buyers come, they are interested but they can’t qualify for a loan then you have to find new buyers,” says Johan.
This means that developers must have enough funds to tie them over a delay in sales. “In our cash flow planning, we already anticipate and make provision for a longer initial sales period. This just means less speculators and more genuine buyers.”
So is everything really under control then, as Bank Negara intimates? Are we just having a controlled slowdown rather than a crash? As a property watcher said over breakfast, you never know. Just like in the late ‘90s, the Asian Financial Crisis took most of us by surprise. We are living in one of history’s largest financial experiments, though, and whether Malaysian property sees a harsh or soft ride towards fundamental values will surely be affected by its outcome… Watch this space.
Nobody knows a crash for sure until the shit hits the fence. All crashes historically have taken everyone by surprise. '87 Hongkong; '97 Asian and 07/08 Lehman. The prudent ones should take in such developments and re-position themselves appropriately. Keyword is do not over-leverage.
SG is already ahead of the curve. It is a very clear to MAS that the household debt leverage is too high hence the many and increasing strength of cooling doses from properties, car and even non-colateralised loans. Even then MAS is still fretting about excessive household debt leverage. Bank Negara is a little behind the curve. It is a good thing that they are finally doing something about it. Better late than never.
Let's all hope we see a relatively non-volatile correction and not a crash if it ever happens. Nobody likes crashes.
Oh oh Dr M starting his anti PAP rhetorics again.
The Chinese dilemma
’KONGSI’ CONCEPT: Each side has to sacrifice something so that the other can gain something
IN response to the emergence of a Malay political party, Umno and its success in rejecting the British inspired Malayan Union, the Chinese community of the 1940s saw the need for a political party of their own to present their views to the British government.
Thus was the MCA conceived and born, led by Malacca's Sir Cheng-Lock Tan. Although it was intended to counter the influence of Umno and protect the interests of the Chinese community, events changed the strategy and role of the MCA.
In 1952 the Kuala Lumpur Umno leaders and the Kuala Lumpur MCA branch leaders decided that in the Kuala Lumpur municipal elections, they should not contest against each other, but instead should support each other's candidates in their respective constituencies.
The results startled them as they defeated almost all the non-racial parties. Realising the political advantage of cooperating with each other the Tunku (Abdul Rahman) and Sir Cheng-Lock Tan, and senior leaders of the MCA and Umno decided to formalise their cooperation by setting up the Alliance, a coalition of MCA and Umno.
The basis of this coalition was the idea of supporting each other and sharing the power gained. Buoyed by the success of the Alliance party in the 1955 elections, in which the MIC had joined, the Tunku looked more kindly at the proposal of Sir Cheng-Lock that citizenship should be based on jus soli (citizenship by being born in the country) and not jus saguinis (citizenship based on the Malaysian citizenship of the father or mother, i.e. citizenship based on blood relation).
The Tunku did not quite agree but he nevertheless decided to give one million citizenships to unqualified Chinese and Indians.
With that the confrontation between the Chinese and the Malays changed into positive cooperation.
It was a classic kongsi that was set up. The essence is an undertaking to share. Sharing involves a give and take arrangement, in which each side has to sacrifice something so that the other can gain something.
As the Malays made up the majority of the citizens they naturally led the Alliance. But the Chinese and Indians were not without adequate power. In any case Malay political power would be mitigated by Chinese and Indians' voting and economic power.
The Tunku saw immediate benefit from the "kongsi" as he believed Malays only wanted to be government employees and the Chinese wanted to be in business. There would be no conflict or tussle between them.
The Indians would fill up the professional posts. He did not foresee the days when government could not create enough jobs for the greatly increased number of Malays.
The kongsi Alliance worked well. But in 1963 Singapore joined Malaysia.
Immediately the PAP tried to gain Chinese support by condemning the Alliance kongsi for being disadvantageous to the Chinese. Malaysians, said the PAP, were not equal. There should be a Malaysian Malaysia where all the benefits should be based on merit alone, with the best taking everything, irrespective of race.
Without saying so in so many words the PAP was inferring that the Malays did not deserve their positions. The best people should rule the country. In the eyes of the PAP, Singapore was ruled by the best qualified people. That they happen to be almost all Chinese is incidental.
In the 1964 elections the MCA and Malaysian Chinese generally valued their cooperation with the Malays. They rejected the PAP and its chauvinistic appeal, giving it only one seat.
The Tunku realised what the PAP was up to and decided that Singapore should not be a part of Malaysia. But the PAP was not done. The remnant of the party in Malaysia set up the DAP to carry on the Malaysian Malaysia meritocratic formula for undermining Chinese support for the MCA.
Harping continuously on the so-called Malay privileges and the unfairness to the Chinese, the DAP slowly eroded the idea of kongsi in the multi-racial coalition of the Barisan Nasional.
Despite the fact that the Barisan Nasional supported Chinese education and the use of the Chinese language, the DAP convinced many Chinese that the Chinese, their culture and language are not given proper treatment by the Barisan Nasional coalition.
The MCA was attacked for not doing enough for the Chinese.
Realising the political advantage of cooperating with each other, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Sir Cheng-Lock Tan and senior leaders of MCA and Umno decided to formalise their cooperation by setting up the Alliance, a coalition of MCA and Umno.
The Chinese dilemma
’KONGSI’ CONCEPT: Each side has to sacrifice something so that the other can gain something
IN response to the emergence of a Malay political party, Umno and its success in rejecting the British inspired Malayan Union, the Chinese community of the 1940s saw the need for a political party of their own to present their views to the British government.
Thus was the MCA conceived and born, led by Malacca's Sir Cheng-Lock Tan. Although it was intended to counter the influence of Umno and protect the interests of the Chinese community, events changed the strategy and role of the MCA.
In 1952 the Kuala Lumpur Umno leaders and the Kuala Lumpur MCA branch leaders decided that in the Kuala Lumpur municipal elections, they should not contest against each other, but instead should support each other's candidates in their respective constituencies.
The results startled them as they defeated almost all the non-racial parties. Realising the political advantage of cooperating with each other the Tunku (Abdul Rahman) and Sir Cheng-Lock Tan, and senior leaders of the MCA and Umno decided to formalise their cooperation by setting up the Alliance, a coalition of MCA and Umno.
The basis of this coalition was the idea of supporting each other and sharing the power gained. Buoyed by the success of the Alliance party in the 1955 elections, in which the MIC had joined, the Tunku looked more kindly at the proposal of Sir Cheng-Lock that citizenship should be based on jus soli (citizenship by being born in the country) and not jus saguinis (citizenship based on the Malaysian citizenship of the father or mother, i.e. citizenship based on blood relation).
The Tunku did not quite agree but he nevertheless decided to give one million citizenships to unqualified Chinese and Indians.
With that the confrontation between the Chinese and the Malays changed into positive cooperation.
It was a classic kongsi that was set up. The essence is an undertaking to share. Sharing involves a give and take arrangement, in which each side has to sacrifice something so that the other can gain something.
As the Malays made up the majority of the citizens they naturally led the Alliance. But the Chinese and Indians were not without adequate power. In any case Malay political power would be mitigated by Chinese and Indians' voting and economic power.
The Tunku saw immediate benefit from the "kongsi" as he believed Malays only wanted to be government employees and the Chinese wanted to be in business. There would be no conflict or tussle between them.
The Indians would fill up the professional posts. He did not foresee the days when government could not create enough jobs for the greatly increased number of Malays.
The kongsi Alliance worked well. But in 1963 Singapore joined Malaysia.
Immediately the PAP tried to gain Chinese support by condemning the Alliance kongsi for being disadvantageous to the Chinese. Malaysians, said the PAP, were not equal. There should be a Malaysian Malaysia where all the benefits should be based on merit alone, with the best taking everything, irrespective of race.
Without saying so in so many words the PAP was inferring that the Malays did not deserve their positions. The best people should rule the country. In the eyes of the PAP, Singapore was ruled by the best qualified people. That they happen to be almost all Chinese is incidental.
In the 1964 elections the MCA and Malaysian Chinese generally valued their cooperation with the Malays. They rejected the PAP and its chauvinistic appeal, giving it only one seat.
The Tunku realised what the PAP was up to and decided that Singapore should not be a part of Malaysia. But the PAP was not done. The remnant of the party in Malaysia set up the DAP to carry on the Malaysian Malaysia meritocratic formula for undermining Chinese support for the MCA.
Harping continuously on the so-called Malay privileges and the unfairness to the Chinese, the DAP slowly eroded the idea of kongsi in the multi-racial coalition of the Barisan Nasional.
Despite the fact that the Barisan Nasional supported Chinese education and the use of the Chinese language, the DAP convinced many Chinese that the Chinese, their culture and language are not given proper treatment by the Barisan Nasional coalition.
The MCA was attacked for not doing enough for the Chinese.
Realising the political advantage of cooperating with each other, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Sir Cheng-Lock Tan and senior leaders of MCA and Umno decided to formalise their cooperation by setting up the Alliance, a coalition of MCA and Umno.
Those were about 10 years apart. So the next big one could be 2018.
BN supported CHinese education? yea rite - see how many top CHinese scholars in the local universities
there are. normally top students from various districts do get to local U. i was one of them.
(not saying i was such a good student, but i came from a small district / kampung school, so easier to come out top).but there is a quota for chinese in local u's. I think it was based on racial demographic. so roughly 30% chinese students.
yes i know there.are.but if you take.a chinese or indian with same results as that of a malay, who.do u think is more likely to be admoited ? Why should there be a quota on locals - we are malaysian chinese. We are not.foreignersthere are. normally top students from various districts do get to local U. i was one of them.
but there is a quota for chinese in local u's. I think it was based on racial demographic. so roughly 30% chinese students.
there are. normally top students from various districts do get to local U. i was one of them.
but there is a quota for chinese in local u's. I think it was based on racial demographic. so roughly 30% chinese students.
It was around 30% ten years ago but now around 19%, according to MCA
"I commend Wee for finally making the public admission that the so-called “merit system” which replaced the quota system in 2002 was an even worse form of quota system in reality, resulting in the dropping of Chinese students to 19 per cent from more than 30 per cent in the early years, and the general drop in non-Malay students in the eight critical courses in public universities."
well, that has been a perennial issue with malaysia since independence. are you local U grad or went thru singapore education system?
schooled in spore since pri school. Among the kids who have to wake up at 5am everyday.and whisked across the causeway in superman/mickey.mouse.buses. Think thats why many parents in jb sent their kids.to.spore.. At least meritocracy exists in the system in sg
yes, i agree. singapore is the best.
UMLAND started to do some marketing for their new project in Medini, called Medinilakeside.
http://www.medinilakeside.com/
Look like this time, they are selling it directly, without using NSG.
http://www.medinilakeside.com/
Look like this time, they are selling it directly, without using NSG.
not the best nor most perfect but the better of both.
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