Potential to grab an auction property within Penang island?

This is for people interested with Penang LANDED properties. Two within the island and one in mainland. Beyond just the usual new launches, there are two other potential properties that one can buy. The secondary ones which can be searched via many property portals as well as those that falls ‘under the hammer’ also known as auction properties. For those who thinks of auction as a ‘scary’ or unknown option, read a little about it here:
‘Syndicates’ in auctions

My good friend forwarded to me an e-flyer for three different properties in Penang. Two within the island and one in mainland Penang. We can see that there are two prices listed. RP is Reserve Price which meant that this would be the lowest point that the property would be sold. In other words, the auction would start from this price and progressively being bid up depending on the interest. If you are the only buyer for the particular property, then this would be the price that you will pay for it. To be frank, I do not think you would be the only buyer because the RV versus MV has a big gap. MV equals to Market Value. This is normally the price that another similar property was sold at and to ascertain for sure INFORMALLY, you may talk to your banker, your friendly property valuer or even search for similar type of properties online.

The discount versus the market value ranges from 25 percent to 35 percent. I am not the owner of any of these properties. I also do not know the owner of these properties personally. I also do not know the reasons for these properties to be put under auction. Thus, there is no need to write in to me to negotiate for better pricing. If you have interest, feel free to call the ‘Viewing Hotline’ number at 012 777 2756.  Please remember to check the actual property and the area before proceeding to bid even if you think the price looks attractive. I ran a check for ‘pantai jerjak’ for semi-detached and the image shows some of the available choices as at today, 15th February 2017. We can compare these listings to the similar one being listed in the auction e-flyer.  The good thing about landed property is that you can actually view the surrounding too. If it looks abandoned for a very long time, I think it’s best to move on to other potentials. As for properties within the island, if you were to ask any Penangites they would tell you that landed properties are the best. They are not as open to high-rise. In fact certain areas are also more favoured. So, if you are ready, the deposit to prepare is 2 percent of the reserve price. Happy bidding.

written on 15 Feb 2017

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Australia wants Apple, Google, Alibaba to pay GST

Since Malaysia has just implemented GST, how about learning a bit more about it? We can learn from Australia which implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the year 2000. That’s about 15 years ago. It would seem that they should have learnt many more things about GST, especially against companies which may have evaded the GST? Well, it’s quite straightforward for traditional companies which are fully registered and licensed. What about internet companies which may not be operating within Australia but derives a lot of its income from Australia? A few examples quoted by Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey recently included digital companies like Apple Inc, Google Inc, Alibaba Group Holding and Uber.

He specifically wanted them to pay more tax if the transactions take place in Australia. He said, “I want to find a way for them to pay the GST. We’re not collecting the revenue that we should be collecting and that we want to collect, that is fair.” Hockey further said that the tax for Australian companies which is at 30% is way too high and this is being threatened by online-based companies. In fact currently, Australia’s GST is just 10% and is said to be lowest amongst all developed countries.

I think the steps taken by Australia, if they can really get the companies stated to pay more would be closely adopted by many other countries. I am quite sure even countries like Singapore or Thailand are not getting much GST from many of these online businesses which are not operating within the country. I am not sure how this can be done though if the companies truly has no office and has just a website which can be accessible from anywhere in the world. Imagine I log on to the website, buys my stuffs and the company sends to me from overseas. The customs may have to be very alert to catch that delivery in order for them to levy some GST on the stuffs that I bought?

Oh yeah, all the companies he mentioned are the same companies operating in many countries in the world. Perhaps even in majority of all countries today. Just look at what happened when Alibaba was listed. Jack Ma was propelled into the super league of world billionaires. However, if Alibaba is already taxed at the country that it has its offices in today, I am not sure if that country would like to share that with Australia. Let’s continue to follow this and see what happens in the near future.

written on 3 Apr 2015

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Be reminded, median price is AUD690,000 today.

Today an ex colleague commented that if one wants to invest, it is good to take a look at Australia’s property market. The reason is because it is stable, well regulated and even easy to find professional property managers to manage for you. It is also suitable if you may be thinking of sending your children overseas for studies. After 20 years, it may be used for your children’s stay and if they chose not to go there, there’s nothing stopping you from continuing to rent it or sell it for a lump sum amount of money. I googled for some latest news about Australia and learnt something which I think I should share. Yes, if you ask me, I did harbour some thoughts about buying in Perth a few months back.

First news is that due to some potential risks from property speculation and record-high household debt in Australia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be sending an economic team to Australia. The worry is more because the economic growth does not correspond to the property price increase. In reality, some of the property prices in parts of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth are already as expensive as similar properties in New York and London. Australia’s economic growth has been continuous for the past 24 years and this has of course helped property prices to increase to its current high. IMF’s economic team will investigate whether a real estate bubble is already forming. Current interest rate is at 2.25 percent and this is already at a record low but the Reserve Bank of Australia is tipped to cut rates again. Australian household debt is also at a record high. It’s at 153.8 percent.
(Malaysia’s household debt to  income is at 146 percent and even this is already considered very vulnerable)

Australia’s economy relies a lot on commodity but the prices for these are falling sharply and the current economic conditions are not really moving. Within past 3 years, Sydney’s property prices are up more than 30 percent. The median is now at AUD690,000. In terms of overall average, the median is at AUD530,000. These prices as well as a sagging economy is a concern because if interest rates are cut to push for growth, it would also be pushing the home prices even higher. Current IMF forecast is for Australia’s economy to grow 2.8 percent for 2015. (Malaysia’s projection is around 4.5 percent). Unemployment is expected to peak at 6.4 percent. (Malaysia’s unemployment is below 4%). According to IMF, all these would eventually contribute to the lower standard of living for Australians.

This investigation team would issue a four-page initial assessment in June and it will then be followed by a more detailed full report, to be released in late 2015 or early 2016.

After my thoughts about buying a property in Perth, I did some research and understood that foreigners are not allowed to buy secondary properties. We are allowed to buy only new ones. Due to the current price level, that’s the reason why most of the time when you go to any of these investment seminars, it will almost always be those one-bedroom or two-bedroom units in a high-rise development instead of the usual landed house like what the majority of Australians are staying.

Whether we invest or not invest, it is important to understand a broader picture on what is happening in the property market and then make an informed decision. If the timeline taken is longer, say 20 years like what my ex-colleague proposed, perhaps it should be okay because Australia is already an advanced economy and I do not think it will suddenly become a third world country. If you are really buying a unit for your children for their future perusal, this should still be okay because your children would need it anyway in future. If you are already thinking of migrating, I think a property is definitely needed because you cannot go there and stay in hotels. 🙂  However, if this is your first property investment overseas, please remember the IMF’s initial assessment as above. If I only have enough money for one more property, I would prefer to buy somewhere closer and where I know slightly more rather than in a foreign country. Happy reading and deciding.

written on 1 May 2015

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Australia property bubble? 27 experts said, It’s ok. 1 said, ‘It will burst’

In 2016, the property prices in Sydney grew 16 percent vs a year earlier. No typo, it’s in double digits. Nope, their household incomes did not rise by double digits.
It rose only by single digit.
 During the same period, the property prices in Melbourne grew 11.8 percent. We can read two articles about it here:
abc.net.au
 and here:
afr.com
.  Another report showed Sydney’s property prices grew 15.5 percent and Melbourne’s by 13.7 percent. The article by
smh.com.au
 is here. Australia is a favourite destination for foreigners looking for quality of life. An earlier report showed that nearly a third of all apartments being built were bought by foreigners. Yes, Chinese from China is the largest group. Read here:
Crazily hot,28% of Melbourne apartments bought by foreigners

Based on the article by
smh.com.au
, in a survey conducted among 28 experts, only one is predicting a property bubble bursting. He is Economist Steve Keen, now based in Kingston University London. His reasons for saying so? He shared, “Mortgage debt in Australia has gone from 80 per cent of GDP at the time of the GFC to 95 per cent today – one of the 3 highest levels in the OECD.” Note though that he is alone. The other 27 said there is no possibility of a property bubble bursting. Some reasons stated as follows. RBC Capital Markets Su-Lin Ong says, “Population growth, particularly in Victoria, will continue to underpin the housing market.”  HSBC’s Paul Bloxham says, “We expect Sydney and Melbourne housing prices to continue to rise in 2017, albeit at a slower rate than in 2016. We see single digit housing price growth in both markets.” Do read the rest in the
article here.

For some of us who love Australia and is really seriously thinking of getting a property as a long term investment, Western Australia (Perth)’s property prices are actually dropping. Read here:
news.com.au
 The major reason stated was due to the loss of jobs available, thus reducing the demand and suppressing the prices. It even said that should the Labour party (Australia) wins, then this job reduction will be reduced even more! Beyond just Perth, there are also other smaller cities which is showing a decline in prices. The only issue may be what if this is continuous even after we have bought one? This is the reason why property investments must also include some study about the state of the economy of the particular country. As long as we are confident of its long term GDP growth, then the property prices should rise, it’s just a matter of time. Happy reading and following.

written on 4 Feb 2017

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Four important points about investing in Melbourne property.

I was at
Resimax’s Property Power workshop
 recently. I think there were close to 100 pax in Intercontinental Hotel in KL. Learning as much as we could before we start investing is an important step, especially in a country where the currency is 3 times ours. I enjoyed the session because I learnt many new things I did not know about Melbourne property market. The main speaker, Ken Dodds shared something important that buyers must consider before buying any overseas property, in this case Melbourne property investment. Here are four important points we should note.

Property Investment is about People.
Demand will have to come from population growth. State of Victoria attracts the highest number of new population. In terms of actual number,
it was over 137,000 people in 2017 alone.
  If we look at a ratio of 3 to 1 home, that means up to 46,000 new homes had to be built to cater to this new. As a young city, Melbourne is home to over 4.9 million people. As per invest.vic.gov.au,
“The  number of people living in Melbourne increased by over 450,000 in the five years to March 2016, the largest increase of any Australian city.”

Buy what locals buy.
Ken shared that it’s very important for foreign buyers to buy what the locals would buy. For example, foreigners are restricted to buying new properties. Many are attracted to smaller units of high-rise but if we were to ask the locals about their preference, it will be landed homes. These landed homes would usually be in suburbs but because of the expressways and rail, they are easily connected to the city centre. Australian families prefer to raise their kids in a neighbourhood with amenities and a community. In fact, if we look at selling the property many years later, it will be far easier to sell it to the locals if we bought what the locals prefer in the first place.

Buy where the locals could afford.
The median home price in
Melbourne is over AUD700,000. (Latest prices here)
 it’s not a price level which could be easily affordable to locals. The median income for full-time workers in Melbourne is AUD65,000 and if we calculate this as a household, it might be
AUD130,000 per year. Here’s that report.
At this income, the median property price of AUD700,000 is categorised under ‘Severely Unaffordable’ or 5.4 ratio. This is the reason why when we buy a property for long-term investment in Melbourne, it’s much better to buy at price levels which are lower. This will make the investment much safer because we need the locals to be able to afford the property we bought in the future.

A long-term development plan is needed.
It’s easy to just pick a popular area and buy but when it comes to investment, it’s far more important to understand where we are buying and who we are buying it from. We should ask a lot of hard and tough questions about the area we are buying to the developer. Are there good connecting roads? Are there good schools? What about the connectivity via rails? In Australia, the developers could not tell you that ‘it depends on the government’s approval.’ Everything they tell you must have already been approved and they must show you the approval plans. Ask for them!

There are more things that Ken shared. There’s even an easy a 7-elements of a hotspot which I will share in my next article with all of you. If you want to know when’s their next Property Power workshop,
visit their Facebook page here.

Ken will continue teaching property investment strategies and finance solutions in his up-coming seminar on 27th October. This free property investment workshop is of great value to seasoned as well as first-time

investors. Click here to register:
https://propertypower.resimaxg
roup.com.au/

In the meantime, happy reading and understanding.

written on 28th September 2018

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Australian property? Take note of ‘what if’ 2017 bubble bursting

Reported in news.com.au on 22 May 2015. Lindsay David, founder of LF Economics has issued his predictions about the state of Australia’s property market. He said that there are clear parallels between Australia today and the US and Ireland pre-2007. “People think you’re crazy, but slowly but surely I see a lot more people coming around to the idea,” he said. “But when everyone knows there’s a bubble, it’s too late.” He then gave an on the ground example of a comparison between Australia’s Alice Springs versus a piece of vacant land in Malibu, California which is just 2km away from the beach. Alice Springs is more expensive today!

He gave some additional numbers as follows: Between 1996 and 2014, household debt outpaced inflation at a rate of 10 to one. Besides a buyer in Sydney would have to save 30 percent of their income for 6.5 years just to be able to afford a 20 percent deposit for a median-priced home. He said, ““House prices in Sydney aren’t as high as they are because there’s a housing shortage and everyone miraculously has $900,000 sitting in their pocket. The banks have to keep lending more so house prices can stay up.”

National Australia Bank’s (NAB) chief economist Alan Oster disagrees and said that all these predictions have been going on for years. In fact they have been wrong for 10 years. He however agreed that affordability is an issue but as at today, things remain okay. In fact for any crash to happen, it should start with people’s inability to pay because they have lost their job. In a stress test of the level of unemployment in Australia, it should reach between 8 – 8.5 percent before everyone sells. This may cause up to 30 percent fall in house prices but this fall is not the same as having the property market crashing.

Personally, I agree in terms of prices it is becoming a little unaffordable. Median house price in Sydney is already AUD690,000. Read here:
Be reminded, median price is AUD690,000 today.

However, for a property market to crash, Australian economy may have to show weaknesses first. Some signs may be a slowing growth followed by perhaps even a technical recession. When that happens, it’s time to be on the safer side. Remember, wealth is to be protected and risk is to be calculated. Reserve Bank of Australia has forecasted a GDP growth of 2.5 percent for 2015 followed by a 2.75 – 3.75 percent for 2016.  Happy buying Australia or anywhere else you feel is attractive.

written on 27 May 2015

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Australian cities ranked for property on a 12-month outlook

Before we start to read and think about property investment based on a 12-month view, please do note that any property decision we make must be a much longer term one. Say 5-year outlook? It’s not a one way ticket to untold riches yeah. Anyone promising you untold riches or sky-high property prices in the near future, please stop believing yeah. If that property could give untold riches, he will not promote to you.  He will buy it first. Maybe he would have stopped working and go for non-stop holidays instead. Why would he be talking to you and trying to persuade you while you are so sceptical? 😛

Anyway, perhaps this is different for advanced property markets like in Australian cities? Here’s one study very recently on property investment in major Australian cities and it gave the pros and cons as well as ranked those cities too. It ranked them based on a 12-month outlook. Oh yeah, Melbourne and Sydney was not ranked in the top 2 yeah.

Article in savings.com.au
 Research shows Canberra might be the hottest capital city to buy in over the next 12 months, as the property market enters a post-COVID era. Buyers agency
Propertyology
 has completed a new research report ranking the eight different capital city property markets in terms of their 12-month outlook. Here’s how each capital city ranked:

Canberra
Brisbane
Adelaide
Hobart
Perth
Darwin
Melbourne

Sydney

The reasons why Canberra is top is because of COVID-19 effects; the lack of it. According to Propertyology’s Head of Research Simon Pressley, “Canberra has shot to the top of capital city rankings. The primary reason for Canberra’s housing market elevation is an anticipated lower economic impact from COVID-19. He also said, “Canberra’s economy was already strong before the germ arrived. And with approximately 100,000 of its 213,000 workforce in the public sector, it will be significantly shielded through the COVID job lock-down period.”  As for a full and comprehensive report if you are thinking of Australia, please do read the article here:
Article in savings.com.au

it’s not looking awesome for all property markets currently, even if Sydney seems very popular from a recent article here:
Singapore to Sydney: Buy, Buy and Buy
  However, I have to say that Australia is a nice place to visit and my many friends who graduated from Australia would tell me that they would have loved to continue staying and working there. I have visited Australia a total of over 30 days. These over a month period is divided into Perth (twice), Melbourne (once) and Sydney (once). Loved those trips and probably taken thousands of photos too.

Beyond knowing that Canberra is the federal capital, I do not know much about it. However, I like Perth because it’s very relaxing. I love Melbourne because of its diversity feel. I like Sydney because of its cosmopolitan feel. So, yeah, I love to visit Australia again. I think my next trip should be to Brisbane. Will explore the possibility of visiting Canberra by flying from Brisbane then. Till then, remember yeah this outlook was based on 12 months. It may continue changing. Happy understanding.

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Australian property getting hotter with Chinese investors

China is a big economic superpower without any doubt. It has the world’s largest foreign reserve too. As per a report in CNBC report few months earlier, China has 1.09 million millionaires. It is also creating 40,000 if not more every year. With this affluence comes the need to continue investing. After all, only the rich think about investing and creating more wealth. Besides the love for gold, Chinese loves properties and this can be seen from all their investments in overseas markets as well as being the single largest foreign investors in many countries. The latest one, Australia.

According to Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FRIB), the number has more than doubled from AUD5.9 billion to AUD12.4 billion. For the first time, China has also overtaken the US as the largest investor in Australia. The gap is huge, with AUD27.7 billion for China versus only AUD17.5 billion for the US.  The largest few of Australian’s property investors are all ‘neighbours’. They include the Malaysians, the Singaporeans, the Hong Kongers and the Chinese. Yes, many Malaysians love to migrate and take up PR in Australia. Some bought in advance for their children’s education in future.

With this, perhaps Australian’s property market would continue to prosper unless the investments from China stops. At the current rate, just relying on the Malaysians or the Singaporeans buying Australian properties may no longer be sufficient. With demand, supply would follow and the rate of new supply may try its best to keep up and take advantage of this new increase in investments. As long as all these investments are into properties which continue to be utilised, it should be okay. If the new properties are all empty, that’s a sign that bubble may be building up. Will continue to read and share.

written on 2 May 2015

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Media Release:  Automate, Digitalise or become Obsolete in a Post-Pandemic world

Media Release:
EMBRACE THE NEW NORMAL: GETTING RID OF MANUAL PROCESSES IN PROPERTY SECTOR THROUGH DIGITAL AUTOMATION

Automate, Digitalise or Become Obsolete in A Post-Pandemic World

KUALA LUMPUR:
The Covid-19 pandemic has posed new puzzles to be solved not only by the healthcare industry, but by all the other industries as well. The crisis also gives us a glimpse into a future world, where digital has become essential to every communication, compelling both individuals and organizations to accelerate the adoption of digitisation almost instantaneously.

The sudden onslaught of the Covid-19 crisis and adoption of the New Normal where lesser human contact is encouraged to contain the spread of the disease has prompted many businesses to start looking for virtual replacements for their previously physical offerings, or at least new approaches of making them accessible with limited physical contact, and the property industry is one of them.

Until recently, the property industry has lagged behind in its implementation of technology in its business processes which involved numerous manual tasks, ranging from property construction, vacant possession, defect management, property occupancy, and management. South China Morning Post has reported that there is a newfound appreciation for what prop-tech can do with the outbreak of this pandemic, and companies that have adapted best to the new normal are the ones that had already made technology intrinsic to how they function – whether the way they monitor and operate their buildings or how automation is integrated to minimise human contact. (
https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3085980/voice-activated-lifts-augmented-reality-coronavirus-spurs-use-proptech
)

To bridge this aforementioned gap in the Malaysia property sector, award-winning software developer, LinkZZapp Group developed and launched
The 360° e-Property Platform Solution
, an end-to-end digital solution which aims to help property developer and management companies to
digitalise complicated manual processes
 which predominantly involved operations and customer engagement.

“As a property investor as well as a PropTech player in the market, we constantly feel that there is so much room for the industry to improve digitally with all the technology available in this day and time. Plus, with the recent Covid-19 crisis where everyone is embracing social distancing as the new normal, we are seeing more property developers demanding a solution which can minimise face-to-face contact.”, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LinkZZapp Group Sdn. Bhd William Wong says.

He stated that the property developers in Malaysia have been practicing the same time-consuming and tedious manual processes for the past two decades, but the crisis has spurred the industry into fast-tracking the digital transformation.

Malaysia’s First Holistic End-To-End Solution for Property Developers

While there are several similar digital solutions available in the market,
360° e-Property Platform Solution
is one of the few digital platforms that are able to provide a holistic end-to-end solution for property developers and management companies, which made it simple and convenient for the users.

“Our holistic platform enables our users to track, manage, monitor, and engage digitally by using all-inclusive features which include Construction Monitor, Vacant Possession, Defect & Property Management, and Smart Community. We also provide hardware and software integration solutions such as plate number recognition system, auto gate system, parking allocation system, facial recognition system, and smart home system to property developers who wish to provide their homebuyers with seamless smart living experience.”, said William Wong.

He believed that now, more than ever is the time for the property sector to innovate and embrace digital transformation as it will not only help the sector to smooth out business conducts in the new world order and provide a safer environment for the public, but also maintain or maybe even increase efficiency and productivity of the business processes as well, killing two birds with one stone.

To find out more about the company, please visit:
https://www.linkzzapp.com/

— end of media release —

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Average Bonus 1.4 months. Do what with it?

In its annual survey of the employers and employees in Malaysia, JobStreet.com has revealed that the average bonus payout is 1.4 months.  Of course, there are companies paying higher and there are companies paying lesser. In terms of increment, there’s a little mismatch between the expected from the employee and the planned from the employer. 54% of employees are expecting an increment of between 6.1% to over 10%. However, from the employer side, 31% said they will give increment of between 6.1% to higher than 10%. So, how many of us are going to be overly sad if the bonus and increment does not meet our expectations?

Personally I think it’s a little too late to think too much. Bonus was due to our performance a year before. Increment is due to expectations of our performance in 2015. Thus, the question should be, are we prepared to do slightly more or feel sad yet again next year? When we think on a bigger picture however, have we thought about what can we do with the bonus or the potential increment? Not much really, that’s the reason everyone always say that their salary is not enough. The higher the salaries we earn, the more wants and demand. The more expensive cars, handphones and even food must be in good cafes and not the usual stalls or kopi-tiams. In the end, everyone is back to square one. Don’t believe me? Look at the car sales, starbucks new stores and even the prices of certain properties in popular areas. My friend’s neighbour drives a BMW but eats bread for dinner at night!

Financial knowledge is extremely important. If possible, invest in a few good books or even pay for some courses / seminars to enhance your knowledge. The right investment would yield us many more times than the usual bonus or increment. It’s very important to work hard and climb the corporate ladder but it’s even more important that you think of what lifestyle you really need in future when you retire. Relying on just the salary alone is no longer sufficient in the materialistic world of today. In fact even if you say I do not wish to be materialistic, please be reminded that as the market continues to expand, the prices would also be increasing too. First thing? Save. Second thing? Invest in something you have knowledge about. Third thing? Repeat. Haha.

Thus, do not be overly sad about your bonus or increment. Take some portion, enjoy it and the rest, think about your future. Then, act accordingly.

written on 9 Feb 2015

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Average increase in house prices are between 8 to 12.3 percent per year

As per reported in newspaper, the average increase in house prices are between 8 to 12.3 percent on average per year. This is as per Valuation and Property Services Department. While it did not state the time period for this average but from what we can see thus far, from the days of the crisis to the uptrend years of 2009 to 2012 and the slowdown since 2012, 2013 and 2014, the number seems quire reflective of the situation. The highest property prices are recorded in Kuala Lumpur, at RM647,189 on average. Just take a look at the prices in KLCC area, Bangsar and you would know that even this average number is not that high, really.

Selangor’s average is RM414,224. At least for Selangor this number is quite ok. Even for popular areas such as Kelana Jaya, this price is still sufficient for a condo. Sabah’s average is RM427,087. If you think this is just Kota Kinabalu, you are wrong. majority of the new property prices in Kota Kinabalu and even Sandakan is already above this number. Of course, the average is because there are also lots of other cheaper options such as flats, terrace houses in less popular areas etc. Majority of everyone is staying in urban areas and this trend of urbanisation would continue until over 80% of all population in Malaysia are in cities instead of villages or even smaller secondary towns.

If everyone is moving to cities, what would happen to the prices? Up, up and away. Thus, the Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Ministry has called for a fund to acquire landbank for affordable housing in urban areas. This is to allow lower income families to be able to afford homes in the urban areas. I think main reason is also because the transportation is still not efficient currently and to own a car meant huge expenses because subsidy for petrol will be getting lesser and not more. The minister also said that the current average household income for Malaysians are at RM5,900 currently with half of all households earning less than RM4,700 per month. This meant that more homes of below RM300,000 is needed.

Yesterday evening, I was talking to the founder of penangpropertytalk.com  We were discussing on some facts about affordable properties and come to the conclusion that more needs to be done including dissemination of the right information about affordable housing. For example, You CANNOT buy them from the developer or even ‘undertable’. You needed to register and if you qualify, then you can buy. Also, cheaper units may be available with a slight reduction in profit margins and approval for slightly higher plot ratios. Anyway, will do best in the area of dissemination of information. As for house prices, do be reminded that this will most probably rise unless urbanisation stops which is unlikely.

written on 18 Sept 2014

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2018: Average increment is 5-6%. Promotions get 15-19%.

It’s already halfway through the Chinese New Year for 2018. Have you gotten the increment letter yet? I changed job in August 2017 so I do not expect any sudden change just after 4 months. 😛  What do you think your friends, peers or other Malaysian professionals are getting? According to JobStreet’s Job Outlook 2018 report, the average salary increment without a promotion this year was expected to be between 5% and 6%. It’s Malaysia country manager, Chook Yuh Yng added, “If there’s a promotion, there will be a higher increment, between 15% and 19%.” The few key sectors with positive hiring trend for 2018 includes manufacturing, banking, construction, retail, and information and communications technology. On an overall basis, job opportunities are expected to strengthen with 30% of Malaysian employers increasing recruitment, compared with 18% last year.
The report in TheMalaysianInsight here.

Chook shared, “We see both employers and candidates sharing a more optimistic outlook towards the job market this year. The key drivers of this sentiment are the rise of start-ups, expansion of local businesses and entry of foreign companies that will lead to job creation and the need for diversified skills.” The top five benefits desired by employees are medical insurance, transport allowance, medical coverage for family, pension or retirement fund contribution, and flexible working hours. (My personal ranking for these would be flexible working hours followed by the rest. My kids are growing up fast, my parents are growing old and I need to manage my time much better actually. I personally believe many Malaysians are ready to take a slightly lower pay if all these benefits are given versus a higher pay but with lesser supplementary benefits. Any thoughts from readers of kopiandproperty.com?)
The report in TheMalaysianInsight here.

I think we should also note that not all sectors are doing well. Not all careers are the same because of changing trends too. Have we evaluated if we are in an industry with good potential? Do we have opportunity to enlarge our current scope of responsibilities? If we are expecting to have higher pay but doing the same thing this year versus last, then it’s going to be just time that we are replaced by some others who are willing to take a lower pay. By the way, the ‘others’ here need not be Malaysians. It can be the workforce from cheaper nations. Every company are also competing and they would need to lower their operational costs. Labour is one critical part unfortunately. Want to know what Google thinks about talents? They found out that softskills are IMPORTANT!
Here’s that finding.
By the way, we can also increase our potential value with LQ. Yes, this is what Mr. Jack Ma said.
Here’a full explanation of why LQ
 may be more important than EQ or IQ. Happy working and getting the increment and promotion that we deserve.

written on 22 Feb 2018

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When average monthly rental reaches RM10,629 per month.

Nope, definitely not in Malaysia. It’s
£2,000 per month in London. Here’s that report in homeandproperty.co.uk
  I know, suddenly everyone wants to tell me that I should compare apple to apple. Londoners are earning £, so surely they have no issues in paying for the £2,000. Noted. The average salary for people working in London as at 2017 is £39,476 PER YEAR.
Do refer here to read full details if needed.

Well, on a monthly basis, this is £3,289. In other words, if they did not share the rental with anyone else, the rental would take away 61 percent of their monthly salary. This will leave them £1,289 which if divided into daily would be around £43. Well, after using the remaining for food, car and perhaps some Happy Hours, there’s hardly much left for savings which will enable them to buy a property in London in the future. The average home price in
London? £430,749.  Here’s that report.

Sorry, the above is not to tell you about how bad Londoners are complaining about house prices there. It is to tell you that the housing affordability issue that we have here in Malaysia is actually a common issue everywhere. This is why we need to focus on solutions and perhaps learn from all these advanced property markets about what went wrong. We will definitely take a look at some other advanced property markets in the near future too. Advice to the working professionals in London? It pays to share the rental cost instead so that whatever saved can then go into owning a future home and start to hedge against even harder times moving forward. The reason? We can ask owners to reduce rental and they will ask you why. The government is also helping by providing temporary homes to the needy. The expenditure on temporary housing has risen through the roof. Within 4 years, the costs rose from £460m to £690m.
Here’s that full report in bbc.co.uk.
 This is not enough and if we read the article, we would know why.

For the needy here in Malaysia,
we have the Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR)
 which could be improved. However, there are plans for build more units and larger sized ones too. As for the rest, a total of 10 million homes are being planned within the next 10 years too. Majority of these are likely to be within the below RM400,000 category. Typical monthly mortgage for such units would be around RM2,000. The median income for a M40 household is around RM6,275 which should be enough for them to get a RM300,000 unit for example. Well, as long as they do not have huge credit card debts anyway. Hopefully, more visibility for these affordable homes will be announced soon by the Housing Minister yeah. In fact, a centralised federal agency modelled along the lines of Housing Development Board (HDB) of Singapore will be a plus point. At this moment, the only reason for such a high number of unsold unit is simply because there was no such centralised coordination in the first place. We cannot build first and hope people will buy. Happy following.

written on 2 Aug 2018

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Average Value of residential properties in KL is RM673K

A friend asked today whether it makes sense for KL properties to be RM673K. She was referring to the JPPH latest data for whole of 2013. I explained briefly. The average price is as per what the name stated, average price. It does not even mean that the majority of all properties are priced at that price point. However, it may mean that there are quite a number of properties at RM400K and a smaller number of units at RM1 Million, thus, taking the average for these two may give you the average number of RM673K. Can you find a property below RM400K in Kuala Lumpur today? Answer is a definite yes. Just search online either in property.com.my or propertyguru.com.my  As at today, there are still a lot of properties below RM400K listed.

In terms of jump, it is quite serious, close to 38%. From RM489,052 in 2012 to RM673,249 in 2013. Nevertheless, as stated much earlier, this may be due to majority of the units being those highly priced ones like the KLCC and its surrounding. Do not worry, even if you work in KL, you can still stay in Selangor.In fact, my colleague just bought a condo in Kepong for RM250,000. The only catch, it’s nearby graveyard but then again, after awhile you would hardly notice it. For Selangor, in 2013, the the average value of residential properties rose 19.91% to RM405,895 in 2013 from RM338,508 in 2012. Rest assured, when you check online, as long as you are willing to change your lifestyle habit, you can get a landed for less than RM300,000.

On an overall basis, the transaction volume actually declined 10.9%. Now you know why some developers have started some ‘special promotion’ for their outstanding units yeah. Nevertheless, the decline did nothing to the price. In fact the price went up a marginal 6.7%. In terms of volume, except for Johor,  majority of all states recorded a downturn. My friend asked yet again, ‘should she buy now’. I smiled and said, ‘it’s ok, if you want to wait, you can wait. if you want to buy you can buy’. She laughed and said, ‘what kind of answer is this?’  No choice, I have answered too many people too many times on questions which only they themselves can answer or make decision.

written on 24 April 2014

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Good advice. Avoid illiquid ones. Go for protective ones. Accept LOWer returns.

Property investment is one of the most illiquid form of investments there is unless of course we treat the real estate investment trust (REIT) as part of property investment.  Buying a property would have taken months and selling would take even more months because of the price we want versus the price which the buyers could accept. Even just the start of reading and deciding the area to buy would have taken weeks and then the viewing starts… Anyway, just remember this. When we talk about investing into liquid class of investments, property is not one of them.

Article in themalaysianreserve.com
  Fund management experts said that investors should avoid speculative, low liquidity investments and switch to more protective asset classes, besides lowering their expectation of low single-digit returns. This is likely to be continuous until Malaysia’s economic recovery starts gaining strength.

Independent financial consultant and investment analyst Leong Hoe Kit said, “While BNM’s revised GDP growth estimates of -2% to 0.5% look more pessimistic, this is still premised on the fact that the coronavirus infections will peak in 1H20, whether this holds true or not, only time will tell.”

StashAway Malaysia Sdn Bhd country manager Wong Wai Ken said, “Every nation needs to make a choice between public health and safety versus the economic impact of the virus, and it’s clear that public health is now the primary concern for Malaysian policymakers. He added, “To stay invested, investors will need to switch their asset allocation to more protective asset classes like cash, bonds, gold and consumer staples. Their expectations should also shift to expect low single-digit returns, until a recovery becomes a more distinct possibility.”  The article is a comprehensive one with more views. Do read it here:
Article in themalaysianreserve.com

The above is an advice from fund management experts yeah. It’s like if you go to a property investment guru’s class, you will know that what he share will also be on the attractiveness of property investment versus other much more volatile investment options. Perhaps I could offer my advice too? I continue to believe in property investments and will definitely be investing if I found a good deal.

At the moment, I think I should put a little spare money into the stock market and just wait it out. We should never avoid diversification yeah which is why I have never stopped unit trust investments and have also added this as well.
Read a bit and join me if you like.
 Let’s see if there is really something very attractive coming up suddenly yeah. Happy investing everyone and stay safe whether you are investing or staying home.

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Don’t miss these award winning developments. PIPDA 2017.

I was honoured to have been invited by Dato KK Chua to join property industry people in the Property Insight Prestigious Developers Awards (PIPDA) 2017. This is a night where the winners finally get to show to the world an award for their efforts in building better and greater properties, be they for stay or work. I think this is also a great time to know all these winners which were chosen from 134 entries. Dato’ KK Chua said in his speech “PIPDA is driven by the passion of everyone in our team as we each play an important role in the continuity of the awards. Our creativity and resourcefulness have changed with the times yet we aspire to continue with a spirit and mission to inspire excellence with style and elegance at the forefront. ” Dato also mentioned that “PIPDA is meant to be a real estate hub where anyone can walk in and feel relaxed as they browse through the various elegant offerings in a gracious environment. My vision for the PIPDA brand is to maintain our standards of service and fine awards, making any developer’s experience a pleasantly memorable one and the awards timeless yet priceless.” Here’s the official website:
http://www.pipda.com.my

Here are all the winners.  Happy investing in one.

DEVELOPMENT AWARDS

Best Urban Lifestyle Development

Tropicana Metropark by Tropicana Corporation Berhad

Best Luxury Hi-Rise Development

The Estate @ South Bangsar by BÖN Estates Sdn Bhd

Best Facilities Development

M City by Mah Sing Group Berhad

Best Leisure Living Development

Hampton Damansara by Malaysia Land Properties Sdn Bhd

Distinctive Lifestyle Township Development

Tropicana Aman by Tropicana Corporation Berhad

Best Hi-Rise Development

The Loft by Mah Sing Group Berhad

Best Iconic Development

M101 SkyWheel by M101 Holdings Sdn Bhd

Best Boutique Lifestyle Development

EPIC Residence by TAHPS Group Berhad

Best Township Development

Tropicana Heights by Tropicana Corporation Berhad

Best Premium Outlet Development

Horizon Village Outlets (HVO) by Horizon Outlet Shoppes Sdn Bhd

Best Integrated Township Development

Bandar Darulaman by BDB Land Sdn Bhd

Best Transit Oriented Development

Tropicana Gardens by Tropicana Corporation Berhad

Best Transit Adjacent Development

Ten Kinrara Serviced Apartment & Commercial by I&P Group Sdn Berhad

Best Family Living Development Northern Region

Imperial Residences by Ideal Property Group

Best Mixed Development

9 Seputeh by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad

Best Corporate Hotel Development

GENO Hotel by LYL Group

Best GBI Rated Corporate Office Development

Laman PKNS by Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor

Best International Destination Development

D’Pristine @ Medini by B&G Property

Best Residential Development

The Greens @ Subang West by CB Land Sdn Bhd

Best Family Living Development Central Region

Residensi SIGC by Matrix Concepts Group

Best Luxury Lifestyle Development

Sentral Residences by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad

Best Sustainable Township Development

Bandar Sri Sendayan by Matrix Concepts Group

Best Harmonious High Rise Development

Aspire Residence by Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad

Best City Lifestyle Development

The Infinitum by Macly Equity Sdn Bhd

Best Livable Township Development

Mahkota Hills by United Malayan Land Bhd

Best Sport-Oriented Integrated Development

SkyArena @ Setapak by SkyWorld Development Group

Best Green Environment Development

The ERA @ Duta North by JKG Land Berhad

DEVELOPER AWARDS

Best Emerging Developer

M101 Holdings Sdn Bhd

Best Affordable Housing Developer

D Aman Residences Sdn Bhd

Outstanding Developer

Ideal Property Group

Best Landscape Development

The ERA @ Duta North by JKG Land Berhad

TOP 10 DEVELOPERS

– Tropicana Corporation Berhad

– Mah Sing Group Berhad

– UDA Holdings Berhad

– Hatten Land Limited

– Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad

– MKH Berhad

– I&P Group Sdn Berhad

– LBS Bina Group Berhad

– United Malayan Land Bhd

– IJM Land Berhad

SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS

Best Real Estate Educator

President College

Personality of The Year

Tan Sri Lim Hock San JP, Ground Managing Director of LBS Bina Group Berhad

Full Press Release for the event:

Announcing the Winners of Property Insight Prestigious Developers Awards 2017 Over 600 guests attended Property Insight Prestigious Developers Awards (PIPDA) 2017, held by Property Insight on 5th May 2017 at Majestic Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Property Insight Prestigious Developers Awards (PIPDA) 2017 is presented by Property Insight, Malaysia’s No.1 property magazine. This event is an annually held award honouring excellence on the developers. The gala dinner received overwhelming response and support from the experts of this industry.

Over 600 guests graced the event with their presence. The winners of PIPDA 2017 were announced at the ceremony, officiated by our Guest of Honour YB Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Kurup and YB Senator Dato’ Sri Devamany A/L S Krishnasamy, Ministers and Deputy Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department, along with YB Datuk Dr. Abu Bakar Bin Mohamad Diah, Malaysia’s Deputy Minister Of Science, Technology And Innovation.

Top developers deserving of their titles were acknowledged for their excellence hard work and remarkable effort in this industry. More than 134 entries were received this year, from a wide range of public and private companies of all sizes in this industry region in Malaysia.

Managing Director of Armani Media Sdn Bhd, publisher of Property Insight Magazine Dato’ KK Chua said in his speech “PIPDA is driven by the passion of everyone in our team as we each play an important role in the continuity of the awards. Our creativity and resourcefulness have changed with the times yet we aspire to continue with a spirit and mission to inspire excellence with style and elegance at the forefront. ” Dato also mentioned that “PIPDA is meant to be a real estate hub where anyone can walk in and feel relaxed as they browse through the various elegant offerings in a gracious environment. My vision for the PIPDA brand is to maintain our standards of service and fine awards, making any developer’s experience a pleasantly memorable one and the awards timeless yet priceless.”

Property Insight Prestigious Developers Awards (PIPDA) 2017 was presented in more than 32 categories, including Best Hi-Rise Development, Best Luxury Landed Development, Best Facilities Development, Best Landscape Developments Development, Outstanding Developers, Top 10 Developers, Leadership Excellence Award, Personality of The Year and more. During the period given from 1st January until 31th March, all the respective categories were open for nomination from public at
http://www.pipda.com.my

The mission of Property Insight Prestigious Developers Awards (PIPDA) 2017 is to recognise innovation and outstanding achievement across the entire property industry with individuals, groups and sector projects being eligible to enter one or more categories. PIPDA, as it is known today, works as an independent bi-partisan professional body with the broadest possible involvement in the property industry. We are proud to host this widely recognised program within the property industry, culminating in a Gala Dinner. Partners and Sponsors of PIPDA 2017 included The Hour Glass, a luxury watches retailer and also Tatler Magazine, a luxury lifestyle magazine.

The event was filled with entertainment by live band themed as “Roaring 20’s Glamour”, shadow dance as well as a performance from Buddy Loren.

For further details and information, please visit
www.pipda.com.my

— end —

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Awards tell us that we are on the right track BUT..

Many times, it’s great to win awards. It gives us a certain level of recognition for something done right. For many property developers, an award also helps in selling the properties even if they know people do not buy simply because the development has an award. Speaking of international awards, did you know that our MRT – Sungai Buloh – Serdang – Putrajaya (SSP / Line 2) has won a global technology award? It’s definitely good because we beat the country with the most High Speed Rail lines in the world as well as the largest economy in the world. Here’s that full news article in
NST. MRT Sungai Buloh Serdang Putrajaya wins award.
 Congratulations but let’s move on. Here’s the issue for the MRT or perhaps even the LRTs whether or not we have won an award.

I have travelled on our MRT Sungai Buloh – Kajang (SBK / Line 1) over 10 times thus far. Impressive would be a good description for it. However, it is still not popular. I am not sure if the MRT is not popular yet because the population along the lines are not as mature as the LRT lines. As all of us would have noted, the LRTs are pretty congested and during rush hours, it may not be possible to squeeze in sometimes. However, if this is the case, then it is even more important for MRT Corp to ensure the Transit Buses are increased and it runs even more deeper than the one loop it is doing today. Frankly, there are not many people who are willing to walk 10 minutes or more just to reach the nearest stop. Every time I take the MRT, the Transit Bus stops at a petrol station nearest to my condo and I have to walk 800 metres to and fro. By the time I reach home, I am already sweating as I am also carrying a notebook backpack too.

Secondly, parking spaces. There are so many stations without car parks spaces. In many countries, the overall car ownership is prohibitive and thus parking spaces may not be that necessary but this is Malaysia. Unless we make it prohibitively expensive, then the next best way would be to ensure people could park their car? Once space is available, make it affordable, really affordable. If I were to drive to my office, I would need to travel a total of 50km per day. Based on my 1.6 litre Persona, that’s going to be RM5 for petrol per day. If I am willing to walk around 300 metres, the parking fee is RM6 per day. This is RM11 per day. Well, if I take the MRT, I would be paying more.

Third and definitely not least. Frequent user programme. This is like those loyalty card thingy. Come on, if the user is going to use it daily to go everywhere, we need to make sure they get really good value. I repeat, REALLY good Value. Say RM100 per month? (UNLIMITED rides) Plus the truth is, if they do not get a better value, then they would not even use MRT in the first place. However, if they feel that this is great value, what’s the ‘loss’ to have more of these users? They would increase the business viability for more shops which in turn would be willing to pay even more to lease new retail units. Best of both worlds.

Actually, there’s also the competition from GRAB or UBER but I think that one is just temporary. The promotions / offers / discounts cannot last forever. Once these promotions are over or once their services are fully regulated, the cost to take these would increase. I think MRT Corp needs to think much harder. Sometimes, it’s all about choices. Happy taking the MRT.

written on 14 Oct 2017

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kopiandproperty.com: the journey to earn more than pocket money

If you are thinking of starting a blog today, have you wondered how far it could go? Earning some pocket money every month? A couple hundred ringgits per month perhaps? How about turning the blog into a Sdn Bhd after some time and employing full time staff whom you pay market salary? Perhaps even achieving a profit at the end of one financial year? This is possible. Let me share the story of kopiandproperty.com  Oh yeah, there’s also that distinct possibility the blog  became so huge that some super huge media house bought you up? Haha. Allow me to share a milestone that all of us could aim at actually. Two main ingredients? CONTENT and CONSISTENCY.

The Beginning:
 kopiandproperty.com was started in November 2013. Please take a look at the 2013 stats. After writing some articles, I shared the site to all my friends in Facebook, I ‘forced’ them to share it with their friends even if I have no idea how many of them did. Facebook referred easily 90 percent of all the traffic to kopiandproperty.com and I was sharing the page to as many property related Facebook pages I could find, everyday. I knew then that if my Facebook friends failed me, then kopiandproperty.com will just die a natural death. I may even stop writing without much readers. Then, I realised that I started to receive referrals from google search. 1,2,3 per day and the number very slowly trickle in. You can see that in 2013, total search engine referrer was 101 and 99 percent came from google. That’s around 50 per month or 1.7 per day. I am still surprised that I am still writing today, 4th August 2018. Haha.

The MILESTONE:
 Please take a look at the latest stats as at end 2017 then. Nowadays, most of the traffic comes either search engines and people who already know kopiandproperty.com. There are also a few friendly sites of fellow bloggers who referred some traffic too including
bursadummy
,
dividendmagic
,
ringgitohringgit
. There’s even many hundreds from
forum.lowyat.net
 too. Traffic continue to grow not just from Malaysia but 25 percent of the traffic are now from overseas. Image shows the top 9 countries from where the visitors come from.

The SDN BHD:
 In October 2017, CoffeewithProperty Sdn Bhd (1244147-X) officially started. I employ a full-time admin staff and she helps with the invoicing, attending press conferences and even attending to all calls and following up on quotations. Yes, I pay ABOVE the market average. Haha. According to JobStreet.com Salary Report, the average pay for an
Admin Executive is RM2,750 per month. Click here to view.
 So, if we assume it to be RM2,750, that’s still easily close to RM40,000 a year when we add in the EPF, SOCSO and EIS. Yes, from a small blog in November 2013, the sales revenue could now cover all these. 🙂   Let’s be very honest, I cannot rely on this yet as my full-time job.  However, this is now more than the usual few hundred ringgit pocket money per month yeah. Let me share the 2 major things we must do and 8 other complementary things we could do when we are thinking of making a blog work. I will not list INTEREST yeah because if we are not interested with what we intend to write, then it’s impossible to do it for the long term.

CONTENT:
Do we know enough about the things we are writing about? Do we follow all the happenings? When we follow and we write accordingly, the interest with the blog will grow in-tandem. By the way, do you know that most of the time, those who could write very well may not necessarily know the subject matter well. Those who knows the subject matter very well may not write that proficiently. For a blog to work, one has no choice but to WRITE and KNOW the subject matter enough. There’s no need to be an expert even if that’s a plus. The more content we have, the higher the chances for google to refer traffic to us.

CONSISTENCY:
In June this year, I went to Australia for 18 days. kopiandproperty.com traffic dropped 20 percent. Haha. The reason? I published very few articles and relied on only the google search referrers instead of new articles which all my readers would usually click to read. Anyway, daily traffic was still over 1,000 visits which will still be the envy of many. In 2017, the average new article per day is 1.47 which meant that I would have written 2 articles every 3 days! The average is still around the same number for 2018.  I am not advocating for you to follow yeah but at least an article every few days would help tremendously!

ALL OTHER IMPORTANT STUFFS:  (of course, if you have $ to spend, the below can be achieved much faster!)

Friends power – Tell your friends about it, ask them to read, share and LIKE your Facebook page. Make more friends from the industry. Be sincere.

Blogs power – Help other blogs to grow their traffic and they will help you too. We are in this together. Everyone can be a friendly blog, not just those who are better than us. Stay humble.

Public opportunity – Are you able to get your blog to the public? Attending talks for a start and then giving talks in the near future? This will surely eat up some of your time but it is a must-do.

Design – Make sure the blog is mobile friendly. I realised my traffic was dropping and then my friend told me that on her mobile my site does not look friendly. I changed the template and the traffic returned.

FREE stuffs – Stop looking at the $ part in the beginning. Sometimes people may ask for help in promoting some events. Do it. Build up the traffic and the $ will come. Not the other way round. Most of kopiandproperty.com customers were those who read the articles somehow.

Gaming it with SEO? – Frankly, I have not paid anything thus far to google or Facebook. I also do not try to follow those tips and tricks on how to appear on first page. Thus, regardless of how the algorithm changes for both of them, it will not affect my site much. Do you know that there are sites which has collapsed simply because of
algorithm changes? Read here.

Diversify – Instead of just Facebook, please also link the blog to as many other outlets as possible. LinkedIn, Instagram and even continue to comment on other pages. Yes, effort needed.

Target setting – This is very important yeah. Keep setting new targets so that we will have to think of ways to hit those targets. For example, in the beginning, hitting 5,000 visits per month in 3 months time. Understanding where those will come from and pushing it.

I wish you the best in your blogging journey yeah. Feel free to share your success stories too. I know that kopiandproperty.com current milestones could have been achieved much earlier. Would love to learn how to make it even more prominent too. Happy blogging.  Please LIKE
fb.com/kopiandproperty
   Thank you.

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written on 4 Aug 2018

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Ayala diversifying into Malaysia via MCT Bhd

I am not sure if it is just me but I think Malaysia has more things in common with Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand and we do not often speak about Malaysia and The Philippines together. Recent ones? High Speed Rail, Iskandar is often related to Singapore. Indonesian maids and Malaysia or even the Haze meant Malaysia has lots to do with Indonesia. The recent MOU with the Thailand Central Bank to ensure both countries benefit from each others currency. Read here:
Small but sure sites for ASEAN closer integration

Nothing about Malaysia and Philippines yet, at least good things until I read about the second largest developer in the Philippines buying up to 30% of a medium-sized listed developer in Malaysia. Yes,
Ayala Land Inc
 is buying shares in MCT Bhd. According to
Ayala
, this purchase allows
Ayala
 to build a stronger foothold in the real-estate sector in Malaysia. However,
Ayala Land
 President said that it will remain a domestic company which meant that its principal activities would definitely remain within the Philippines. As a company, MCT specialises in mixed-use projects that include retail, office, hotel and mid- to affordable residential. It’s current projects include One City Subang Jaya and Cyberjaya and has landbanks in Dengkil.

I would really hope more would happen between all these ASEAN countries. Integration is key and there is really little need to have one currency. Truth is, when all the countries are much more ‘connected,’ then the voice as one can be stronger. ASEAN is after all a grouping of over 600 million people. Nearly 9% of the world’s population! The only issue is that as a grouping, ASEAN is still not closely connected economically enough, at least to my preference. The faster we treat one another as partners instead of competitors would be better for the future. Happy travelling within ASEAN first, before the world.

written on 24 Oct 2015

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AZ jab? Pfizer jab? Do 1st dose offer protection? What about 2nd dose?

This was explained in a short briefing just before I got my AZ jab on 22nd May. Want more information to prepare for you AZ jab? Read here.
My AstraZeneca experience and the process for your reference

First of all, Covid-19 vaccination does NOT mean you will not be infected by Covid-19. However, it greatly reduces this potential. There’s no need to ask how many percentage lah. No one can tell you with any accuracy. However… UK has reopened after their successful vaccination program. They already have over 70% of the population with a minimum of one dose. For them, it’s AstraZeneca and Pfizer.  What vaccination does is also to ensure that even if we get infected, the effects from this infection will be way milder than if we did not receive the vaccination earlier.

As for how much the first dose protects us by helping the body build antibodies and how much the second dose enhances the first dose, please do read on.

Article in theguardian.com
  More than 90% of Britons develop antibodies to coronavirus after having one dose of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines and this rises to almost 100% after the second dose. This is a finding based on a study of 8,517 people in England and Wales. The re research found that 96.42% of people who had either vaccine had developed antibodies 28 to 34 days after their first dose. That rose to 99.08% within seven to 14 days of the second jab.

Dr Maddie Shrotri, the lead author of the paper containing the findings from University College London (UCL) said, “This is one of the earliest real-world vaccine studies in the UK and it is fantastic news.”

“Over nine out of 10 adults in the UK who had either the
Pfizer
 or AstraZeneca vaccine produced antibodies against the virus within a month of their first shot.

“How well these vaccines work is remarkable, especially given the speed at which they’ve been developed. It’s a real feat of science in the face of the most devastating pandemic in a century.” Please do read the full article here:
Article in theguard
i
an.com

Note, the study says it’s 28 to 34 days.

Briefly, after you have been jabbed, please just be careful and if you could stay home for 28 – 34 days, then by the 35th day, your body would have built antibodies to fight COVID-19 virus if it ever attacked. After the 2nd jab and you stay home for 7-14 days, by the 15th day, close to 100% of everyone with a 2nd jab will have already built up antibodies. This is why it’s wiser to stay home unless we really needed to go out. This is why jabbed by AZ still meant jangan ke sana ke sini.

Malaysia’s immunisation programme has both Pfizer and AstraZeneca. We also have Sinovac. UK does not have Sinovac under their vaccination programme but this is what Indonesia found out about Sinovac and they are one of the very first countries to use Sinovac here in ASEAN.

Article in channelnewsasia.com
 Indonesia Health Ministry lead researcher and health official Pandji Dhewantara shared that China’s Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine was 98 per cent effective at preventing death and 96 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisation among a group of inoculated Indonesian medical staff. This was based on a study conducted by the country’s health ministry.  This is a finding based on data from 120,000 healthcare workers in Jakarta who had received the vaccine between January and March 2021. this year, told a briefing on Wednesday. Do read the full article here:
Article in channelnewsasia.com

Protecting yourself is protecting everyone

Based on all the deliveries of vaccines (if all arrives on time) and the total number of people registered for the vaccines thus far, I seriously do think by September 2021, we need to start pushing for more registrations because by then, most people registered would have been vaccinated or allocated a slot to get vaccinated. Let’s hope I am right for Malaysia’s sake. This is also why we must continue to encourage more people to register to be vaccinated. We need to remember that if we do not achieve herd immunity, we remain very vulnerable.

All the best everyone.

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Updated. AZ registration opens 140 minutes later

If you like to know great things about AstraZeneca, MOST of UK people got jabbed with AZ. From the latest news, they are doing well and the economy has been reopened and this included even pubs and football matches have spectators back in stadiums.

AZ is also approved by World Health Organisation (WHO). From the last I heard, WHO does not simply approve any vaccine without sufficient data. The first batch of 280,000 AZ doses were fully taken up by fellow Malaysians in 3.5 hours. That included me and wife. I took the jab on 22nd May and my wife on 24th May. My experience and guidance for those going to vaccinations in WTC KL?

Read it here: AZ Jab. 84 hours later. Lucky. No side-effects thus far. No fever. No breathlessness. No tiredess.  #astrazeneca #CucukMyAZ #mycovidvaccination
https://kopiandproperty.my/staging/2021/05/22/my-astrazeneca-az-vaccination-experience/

Now for the good news. AZ Vaccines will be open again for those who are 18 years and above for appointment in 13.5 hours time. Image below yeah. I personally find using the notebook to register is faster than a smartphone.

In the first one, 280,000 doses were opened only for Selangor and KL. It was completely taken up in 3.5 hours. Tomorrow, there are probably close to 900,000 doses remaining from latest delivery. I am not sure if this number already deducted all those who registered earlier but were put in backup list. This time it is open to Selangor, KL, Penang, Johor, Sarawak.  Let’s see what happens tomorrow. I wish everyone all the best.  Happy registering.

This is the website to register tomorrow noon.
https://www.vaksincovid.gov.my/

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Malaysians within B40 and M40, a special loan scheme is coming by August 2018? Hmm…

Housing and Local Government Minister (KPKT) Zuraida Kamaruddin said that her ministry has met agencies such as Bank Negara Malaysia, bankers and the Employees’ Provident Fund on the rolling out of a loan package for the M40 and B40 income level group.
To compare loans from 15 banks at the same place, click here.
 This is also to address NAPIC’s quarterly report update for 1Q18 which revealed some RM22 billion worth of unsold properties on the market. Earlier article here:
unsold units in Malaysia

She mentioned the reasons behind the unsold units such as the properties being at an unfavourable location, high cost and even loan factor. She said, that the ministry was in the early stages of discussion with Bank Negara to draw out the guidelines for a more relaxed loan scheme. Nevertheless, she expects that a new scheme for the B40 and M40 would be launched by August 2018. The full article in edgeprop.my here:
Loan scheme for B40, M40 groups targeted for August rollout

I have written extensively about Malaysians needing a home. Please note that without a property to hedge against inflation, the tenants would always be at the mercy of the owner. An earlier article clearly demonstrates this, even in advanced property markets:
Of low salary, lots of OT and poverty and well, property

However, I do not agree to any ‘simply lending’ policy even if it’s meant to help Malaysians to own a home. If the banks are forced to lend by lowering their requirements, they will definitely increase their requirements for the rest of the borrowers. This is risk management after all. Seriously, the basic fundamental is to help people own a home and it could be by ensuring they have a higher income (ensuring prices go up slower than salary increments) or the home prices lowered (building further and smaller maybe?)

Perhaps something along the lines of Rent-to-own would be better? Earlier article here:
Rent-to-own a value-added solution to buyers and banks

As for pushing the unsold units to the homebuyers, I am not sure if this is also in the best interest of the home buyers. After all, if the location was unfavourable then, if nothing else have changed, then the location is still unfavourable today. It will still be unfavourable next year! Except perhaps we have some fundamental changes. Perhaps a better connectivity? MRT Transit buses perhaps? Let’s also remember what our ex-Bank Negara governor said many years ago. Here’s that article:
Stay safe, buy within affordability and stop bubble building

Hopefully everyone notes the advice from Dr. Zeti who’s now part of the Team of Eminent Persons. Happy preparing enough before buying.

written on 7 July 2018

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B40 needs a property as their ‘Fixed Deposit’

Do we have RM200,000 in the bank today? If we have, can we NOT take it out and buy stuffs we like? Anyway, if we have RM200,000 in the bank today earning a fixed deposit of 4 percent per annum, when we retire 30 years later, this RM200,000 would have increased to RM663,000. By then, the amount of RM663,000 is not as much as RM663,000 of today. However, it is still going to be a significant amount which will help tremendously when money is needed. In comparison, 68 percent of EPF members 54 years old and above have less than RM50,000 and only 18 percent have between RM197,000 to RM228,000. Here’s the article in
TheStar for reference: Most Malaysians cannot afford to retire.
 Instead of looking to save RM200,000 how about concentrating on just the 10 percent and then allowing the time / inflation take care of the rest?

Coming back to the RM200,000 example above. If we assume the B40 households could afford a RM200,000 and the government does its best to help them own such a unit; either through building more of these units and designating them accordingly or even through some forms of subsidies, we are technically helping to alleviate poverty in the future because of the lack of a property for the B40. With regards to the T20 (top 20 percent of households), M40 (Middle-Income households) and B40 (bottom 40 percent of households based on income), the typical median salaries are as per the image.
What is T20, M40 and B40? Just do more

Do refer to the table to understand perhaps one main reason that the government has now decided that even for affordable homes, there will be different categories for them. I think this is to ensure the right homes could be built for the right households.

How much will a B40 household have to pay for a RM200,000 home on a monthly basis? It’s actually RM912 per month. Based on their RM3,000 household income in 2016 and putting in a 5% increase for 2017 and 2018, they should be earning around RM3,307 per month beginning 2019. Thus RM912 / RM3,307 is around 27.6% of their monthly income. Whether this is doable or not depends on the household but if we could help them to somehow own just a RM200,000 property and they continue to paying for it instead of renting a home, by the end of 30 years, their ‘affordable’ home will be worth RM663,000. Seriously, I do hope the B40 do not suffer the fate of some of those working adults in advanced countries who were priced out of the market totally because of the lack of government intervention right from the beginning. Here’s that article telling how even the rental on a monthly basis is higher than their pay!
Low Salary, Lots of OT and Poverty
  Happy helping.

written on 15th Oct 2018

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Baby boom did not happen in 2020. Oh dear an ageing Malaysia by 2030.

Malaysia’s fertility rate was 1,976 in 2020. This meant that as a nation, our population is no longer able to arrest the decline of population in the future. There was that thinking that with the lockdown, Malaysians would be more productive where baby production was concerned. Unfortunately, this did not happen as per latest statistics from Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM). In fact there was not even the slightest sign that Malaysians have indeed worked harder in 2020.

Article in themalaysianreserve.com
  Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said based on data obtained by DOSM, the number of new births in the country was not as significant as expected. In fact, population projections from 2010 – 2040 by DOSM has revealed that Malaysia may become an ageing nation by 2030 with people aged 60 and over surpassing 15 percent of population.  He also gave some potential reasons for the lower number of new babies.

He said, “But, looking at it from a broader angle, among other factors that cause the decline of the young population is also due to society being more inclined to choose careers and lifestyles that are more free from commitment. Apart from that, there are also couples who get married at a late age and it is possible that some of them have fertility problems.”

DOSM showed that the annual growth rate of population was just 0.4 percent and this is showing a slow growth trend. The young population (0-14 years) decreased through the years, which only made up 23.3 per cent of total population. Working-age population (15-64 years) decreased to 69.7 per cent.  Please do read the comprehensive article here:
Article in themalaysianreserve.com

Tax will be an issue which would need to be addressed

When the younger population becomes smaller, the number of working population would also be decreasing. With a larger older population, it meant that the government would have to collect more taxes to provide for the older population. By the way, this tells us that those who are retiring has to ensure they have enough to sustain their life post-retirement because relying on government is likely to be a bad idea in the future.

Changing demand for goods and services and properties too

When I get to 65, I do not wish to have a big home. I would like to travel a little more and thus may be paying more for hotels versus staying at the same place, same property for most of the time every year. I do believe that I am not alone in this goal. In fact even if one does not travel, one does not need a big home. Definitely not one where the rooms are all upstairs. It may be better to have a room on the ground floor instead.

This is why the property demand is going to change too. It does not need to be smaller homes closer to the city centre yeah. As long as the home is one within an established township, coupled with safety and lots of amenities, that would already bring enough convenience. Think about it yeah. Happy understanding and following.

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Ipoh converting backlanes for recreation

There are not many Ipoh related property news. That’s why I do not consider Ipoh a property hotspot. However, Ipoh is still a good city for everyone to live, play and love. I read about an interesting thought from the Ipoh city council to turn backlands into recreational areas, similar to what is being done in many other countries. Some of the proposed locations include those in the Ipoh old and new town areas. The mayor Datuk Zamri Man said that these could be converted into recreational areas or made into parking lots. The major reason is because there are limited places to construct recreational areas within the city. Besides, these new recreational areas can also be an activity spot for the tourists who are visiting Ipoh. Besides this, the council is also thinking about Car Free Night in the city centre to attract even more visitors.

I would personally want to drop by and just walk along these roads as long as there are lots of activities happening. A very good example may be Melaka’s Jonker’s Walk. Some of the major open areas for the within the city’s Old Town area include Taman D. R. Seenivasagam, People’s Park, Ipoh Padang, and the train station square. Over in the New Town area, there is Dataran MBI, Sultan Abdul Jalil field, Sultan Abdul Aziz Recreational Park, and the Chinese Recreation Club field. With more activities, this would help to reduce potential crime in quiet areas while reducing crowding in popular public spaces.

Meanwhile, Ipoh City Watch president Prof Dr Richard Ng commented that converting backlands into recreational spaces is not suitable because back lanes are associated with toilets and garbage collection areas. He suggested that the council focus on maximising the use of the Kinta riverfront instead. He gave an example of the Saigon river in Vietnam where there are cruises and the people can even enjoy a dinner on board as well. Perhaps it may be better for the council to provide infrastructure for Ipoh’s famous hawker to set up outlets along the river walk instead. Besides, the back lanes are normally filthy, smelly and filled with rats and cockroaches too. Why not have more activities in the various parks instead since these parks are usually deserted and quiet by nightfall.

I think converting back lanes into a recreational spot is a good idea. This is however not a priority. To me, I would like the various parks to be full of activities instead before the council spends money on converting these back lanes. It would be much cheaper and some of these experience may then be used for future back lane conversions. I also feel that much more can be done along the Kinta riverfront too. Drinking latte while chit-chatting with friends beside a waterway is something I enjoy doing in Singapore. The only issue is to get LOTS of people to go so that everyone enjoys the atmosphere. If there are just a few stalls and just a few chairs, very soon, no one would be going there anymore. I love Ipoh, please keep improving it.

written on 18 Nov 2015

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Using ‘bad debts’ to buy ‘good debts’?

Everyone tells us that we must always aim for good debts.
Property mortgage is considered a good debt
 that everyone must have. This is very true. However, if you have to borrow ‘new’ money instead of own savings in order to buy a property, how can this be a good debt? You have no money but you wish to have money and thus you borrow money to buy a property so that you have more money in future? Pretty simple? I read a news article saying that one young buyer borrowed money so that he can buy his RM720,000 condo. Huh? This is totally absurd and I have to say this. IF every young buyer is doing this so that they can buy a RM720,000 condo, we better all sell and hold cash. A crash is coming.

Secondly, are these young buyers really so precious that only a condo is good enough for them? Please stop saying that the
prices of condos are up these days compared to yesterday or whatever.
 If you cannot afford, please do not buy and concentrate on things you can afford. I remember a scene from a Singaporean movie many years ago. One newly promoted manager wanted to  show off his ‘wealth’, so he bought lots of new electrical goods. In fact he changed the whole house with new appliances and he asked for Easy Payment Scheme with his credit card. There’s little to guess what happened in the end. He was broke after a while. Of course this is worse because he used ‘bad debt’ which is his credit card to buy ‘bad debts’ which are the electrical appliances. Bad + Bad = Worse.

Thirdly, it is really about time that newspapers or property gurus or anyone who speaks in public to remind everyone to spend based on what they can.
Stop inflating every number and said there are no more affordable homes. I
t’s just a matter of choice today. In some countries, there is not even any choice. Yes, we can also blame it on reasons such as too far, no public transport, whatever reasons which are beyond our control, really. There is however one which is within our control; it’s how we choose and what we buy. My first apartment was RM123,000, bought it together with my wife and I stayed there happily for 4 years with my brother and then my sister before I could afford a slightly bigger condo. Today, that same apartment is well within the affordable category. That was in Penang island when I was still a young guy. 🙂

In KL, the choices are even more. Read a little about how one Gen-Y changed his want into what he need and he is reaping his objective decision today. Read here:
Are you buying for VALUE or GLAMOUR?

Of course, if the decision of these young people remain the same which is to borrow in order to buy, I wish ALL of US the best because these may be the reason why a bubble is building up.

written on 8 Apr 2015

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Bad Debts within ASEAN banks are Bad News

Bad Debts within ASEAN banks are increasing.

I think it’s quite important to be aware of the bad debt numbers. It’s also known as bad loans or Non-Performing Loans (NPLs). This number quite frankly should be on a rising trend since many businesses have been forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic and when they close, jobs are lost and this will cause the unemployment numbers to spike. When people lose their jobs and is unable to secure a job quickly, then they may start to miss their loan repayments.

This has happened not just within ASEAN but throughout the world. Good news is that with vaccinations starting feverishly, GDP growth forecasts have also turned positive for 2021. This includes the forecast for Malaysia as well. Earlier article here:
GDP forecast for Malaysia for 2021
. If we like to have a global view, here’s that global view slightly earlier.
Global Growth in 2021?
 What has happened to the bad debts within ASEAN banks?

Article in asia.nikkei.com
  For full article click on the article to read yeah. Meanwhile the image below provides a great overview. Generally, we could see that for Malaysian banks; CIMB, Maybank and Public Bank, the net profit has fallen but the NPL has stayed almost unchanged. This does not necessary mean that the NPLs are not rising for 2020. It may also be because the Malaysian banks are more aggressive in their bad loan provisions earlier; 2019.

When we look at another image, we would see that both Maybank and Public Bank actually show a reduction in NPLs as a share of total loans. This is positive news even if we could see a slight rise for CIMB.

Please do refer to the comprehensive article in asia.nikkei.com here.
Article in asia.nikkei.com

It’s important to also look at the recovery and the strength of the respective banks too

If the recovery of all these economies start happening in 2021, it would also help tremendously in stopping the NPL numbers from rising further and some positives may show in 2022. So, 2021 is indeed an important year. I do hope that the number of cases drop low enough for travel within ASEAN at least to restart. Lots of potential economic multiplier effects once we have some travel bubble arrangements. Businesses can become more aggressive in their growth too. Let’s face the truth, that new norm of ZOOM everyday does not work well for the long run.

Happy following.

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Bad decisions during the peak may be fatal

Reported in propertyguru.com.sg was a news about a boutique developer called C&C Development. A few of its uncompleted properties have been put under the hammer recently after the winding up of the company with its last business day on 22 July. (As per reported by The Straits Times). According to Grace Ng, Head of Auction and Sales at Colliers International, the developers who paid very high prices for land may find it
hard to sell the properties
 at the targeted price. The current market slowdown is a major setback.

Chua Beng Chye, partner with the Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group at Rajah & Tann, shared that today there are a growing number of property and construction firms facing financial headwinds. The two key reasons for this include escalating costs and slowdown in the property market. Anyway despite
being put under auction
, it is not always that these uncompleted properties could be sold. A recent auction of C&C’s partly built double-storey, semi-detached homes with attic and basement in Kingswear Avenue, Serangoon Gardens, by Colliers International with an opening price of S$2.8 million received no bids. Perhaps it’s also because the new buyer would have to complete the homes themselves.

If anyone has some news about some of these
unfortunate timing
 by some boutique developers in Malaysia, do share yeah. Their decisions would provide to us lessons especially for some of us who’s more risk-averse. There’s nothing such as a never ending property price march. This brings us back to individual investors. There’s really no point in taking too much risks and over-stretching ourselves. No one can be lucky all the time because the peak may just be around the corner. Happy investing.

written on 29 July 2016

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Buying a bicycle is bad for the economy. Agree?

I wrote this sometime back. Somehow someone viewed it and I think it’s worth editing it a little for new readers too.

Someone forwarded the image below which I have seen before many years back. Actually, I do think there are always many different perspectives even if we are speaking about the same thing. The image shows a bicycle and it went on to say that cycling is bad for the economy because a cyclist does not buy car insurance, does not buy fuel, does not send his car for servicing and this went on to say that cyclists are healthier, thus they do not need to go to the hospitals and doctors and thus, many job creation would stop. let’s also look at these 4 things then.

#1 – A RM700 bicycle versus a RM70,000 car.

Think about it. If we assume this person earns the same salary whether or not he rides a bicycle or drives a car, this meant that over the next 5,7 or 9 years, this person has an extra RM70,000 to spend. We assume his bicycle repair and upgrade etc will be small. This extra RM70,000 which the person did not use to buy car will still be spent somehow and it will flow back into the economy and I do think the multiplier effects are aplenty too. He could go for holidays… tourism booms. He could go for more restaurant food… restaurants boom. He could buy more things for more people… happiness booms. I think you get the idea.

#2 – I do not think a cyclist spends just the purchase alone

I be honest. I have a BMX bicycle. I have a Mountain Bike. I have a Racing Bike. The reason is a simple one, each one serves a different purpose. In fact, the friends who love mountain biking, do ask them if they ever continue to ride the same bike year after year without any enhancements to the parts, without any modifications and without ever changing to a lighter, better and stronger bike as he progresses.

By the way, it’s the same lah. When everyone rides a bike, then peer pressure starts too. “Oh… you ride an old design…” “Oh… your suspension is less comfortable, you should try mine…” The spending / expenses will continue to happen even if it’s a bicycle

#3 No fast food after the biking trip?

If you have friends who bike often, you would also notice their FOOD adventure after the biking trip. I seldom see bikers, after their usual 10km or 20km ride shows off that they eat salad after the ride. And… it does not even need to be after their biking session. Remember… they do not need to spend extra RM1,200 per month on the car instalment? So they have lots of money to spend on food excursions along their ride.

They would spend more n food and it does not even necessary need to be healthy food. In other words, if they were to eat fast food, they have MORE money to eat fast food. If they love fancier places, they could afford it too. Think what will happen to their visits to the doctors… and dentists and even pharmacists.

#4 It’s obvious that the writer wanted the sharing to become viral

Let’s always understand what we read and it’s good to also ponder whether the things said in these viral news are real or just for fun. I would believe the news a lot more if they could quote a research over 10 years showing how some economy in some healthy countries going down the drain just because the people in the country are healthier and drives fewer cars. There are certainly many of such countries actually.

However, as usual, most of the viral news would not have the source and when this happens, I usually would refrain from forwarding it further.

Oh yeah, I have many cycling friends. ALL of them continue to buy a car and ALL of them continue to spend ever more money for their cycling hobby. Hope this explains why I wrote this article today.

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