RTS JB-SG best station design awarded to “Integration of Two”

I like Rapid Transit System (RTS JB-SG). I have no properties in JB / Iskandar as yet but I do believe there are opportunities. Of course, cannot just buy with 360 videos lah. Must drive there, have a few cups of coffee with a few good friends and then understand a bit and then only start due diligence of some units. Yes, I personally do think JB / Iskandar is worth investing, especially with the RST JB – SG which I would hope will be on time if not earlier than what was scheduled. We can lah, if we really wanted it to be. Just a question of intent and focus.

Now, the design has been finalised I think?

Article in straitstimes.com
  Johorean architect Chin Yee Chong bagged RM250,000 (S$82,241) in prize money in the Facade Design Ideas Competition with his design – the “Integration of Two” – signifies Johor and Singapore’s relationship and history.

Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRT Corp) chief executive officer Mohd Zarif Hashim saidthis about the design. “It is very modern and futuristic. It will be a design all of us will be proud of… An iconic landmark in Johor once it’s completed. The four-storey building will be used to co-locate the Immigration, Customs and Quarantine (CIQ). It will be part of a transit-oriented development in the future.” Please do read the full article for more details.
Article in straitstimes.com

Image shows the design. Looks modern, really.

Image source:
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-announces-winning-design-for-johor-spore-rts-link-station

This RTS Link has a length of 4km of which 2.7km is in Malaysia and 1.3km in Singapore. It will link JB’s Bukit Chagar station to Singapore’s Woodlands North MRT station. It could carry up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction. (I am sure if they add the number of cars, it could carry more? 10,000 is still a very small number to me)   It is now expected to complete in December 2026 after many delays. Let’s hope this time it will continue until completion and NO MORE further delays regardless of the government of the day. Happy anticipating.

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RTS makes more sense, HSR can wait

I wrote about this quite some time back, arguing that Johor and Singapore must have more links. Read here:
Yes, if LINKS are provided I think Iskandar is okay

Today, I read in the news that the proposed Rapid Transit System (RTS) may come true. According to the Johor Public Works, Rural and Regional Development committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad, a joint announcement would be made by the Prime Ministers of both countries (Malaysia and Singapore) in May. (Well, most probably)

This is great news not just for Iskandar as a real estate destination but also for the thousands of Malaysians working in Singapore who is staying in a tiny little room there and paying S$700 or more for it. They had no choice because it could take easily 2 hours during peak hours to get into Singapore from Johor Bahru. Else, they would have to wake up at 530am everyday and only reach home by 930pm or later at night. My good friend’s brother is STILL doing it, daily. I have to salute him. My best friend used to do it for 5 years. He’s now fully based in Singapore.

The RTS would be up and running by 2018 while the High Speed Rail will be delayed to 2022 from 2020. The terminating station would be Bukit Chagar and RTS will help tremendously in boosting the Johor Bahru city transformation project. It will improve connective it and accessibility between both sides. Better connectivity means more business opportunities too which is great for both countries. A total of 100,000 vehicles uses the Johor Causeway daily.

Singaporean SMEs can grow more efficiently too to fight against the world outside. Read here:
Singapore’s future growth potential depends on local SMEs

As usual the retail sector in JB would benefit tremendously too. Yeah, as usual, it may also cause prices to increase but there is really little choice. Before Iskandar, the property prices in Johor Bahru actually went down when compared to Klang Valley or Penang. (Source: Ho Chin Soon’s good books, do go buy a few copies to refer)  Happy believing or stop reading about Iskandar and concentrate on other cities.

written on 23 Feb 2016

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Rapid Transit System – to be signed end of 2017?

Rail Transit System (RTS)  building momentum? I seriously do not think High Speed Rail (HSR) is that catalyst to get more people moving between Iskandar and Singapore. It will get KL – SG much better connected than today but effects to Iskandar will likely be incremental. It will help many other smaller towns that’s connected too. The catalyst has to come from some link which reduces the time needed to travel between JB and Singapore tremendously. Not the current 2 hours or more please. My friend has been stuck in the causeway jam for over 5 hours before. Maximum of 45 minutes and connected to Singapore’s world class public transportation system would be great. Yes, I wrote about this too earlier.
RTS makes more sense, HSR can wait

Well, I just read a piece of good news. It seems that this Rail Transit System (RTS) is happening! Here’s the article in
channelnewsasia

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, “We’ve settled on a high-bridge crossing. This was a major point – how are we going to cross the Straits of Johor – high bridge, low bridge (or) tunnel. That clears the way for us to work towards a bilateral agreement which I hope we can sign by the end of next year.” He was speaking at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Najib Razak after the signing of a bilateral agreement on t
he high-speed rail (HSR) project.
According to the report, the RTS link will adopt Singapore’s Thomson-East Coast line system, including its signaling system, rolling stock, communication system and integrated supervisory control system. It was first announced in 2010. The RTS station in Malaysia would be in Bukit Chagar while in Singapore it will be at Woodlands North Station. He added, “Visitors can clear immigration in Johor Baru, get on the RTS, come to Singapore and transfer to the MRT seamlessly and vice versa.” The RTS would be operated by a corporate entity. The fares would NOT be regulated by both governments and will be based on market rate.

Assuming it’s operational within 5 years after an agreement is signed, that meant this is going to be 2022. So, what happens until then? Well, Iskandar should have more commercial activities, especially those
funded by Singaporean SMEs.
 This will ensure more jobs are created and demand for services can also increase. Supporting Singaporean SMEs would be a great way to start because SMEs in Singapore would find it harder to compete with all other external competitors if they are manufacturing it in Singapore. Come on, even an experienced technician would easily cost S$3,000 per month or higher. This is very close to RM10,000 per month. Image Source:
payscale.com
 Unless the factory is producing something of extremely high profit margin which does not make sense. Most manufacturing concerns do not earn exceptional profits. That’s the reason why as soon as slowdown starts and extends for half a year, many factories start to reduce their workforce.

I asked many of my Malaysian friends working in Singapore who’s staying in Singapore this question for the past many years. Why would you not stay in JB instead? My best friend told me this many years ago. ‘I used to stay in JB. Guess what, for five years during the weekdays, I have never seen the sun when I am in Malaysia. He needed to skip jams, thus he travels at 530am, latest and comes back after dinner and the jams, reaching home at 10pm. However, he said if the travelling is within 45 minutes, then he would. The reason is simple even today, from his home to work via MRT, it will take him 45 minutes. I think many Malaysians working in Singapore would want to save more money but they need a solution which will also save time. RTS may just be that solution they are looking for. Happy believing.

written on 19 Dec 2016

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Financial News: Car buyers get better deal with abolishment of Rule of 78 (if and when it happens)

Financial News: Car buyers get better deal with abolishment of Rule of 78

This is the definition for Rule of 78 as per Investopedia:

What Is the Rule of 78?

” The Rule of 78 is a method used by some lenders to
calculate interest charges
 on a loan. The Rule of 78 requires the borrower to pay a greater portion of interest in the earlier part of a loan cycle, which decreases the potential savings for the borrower in paying off their loan.  Do read the full defintion and more
explanation here at investopedia.com
 “

Meanwhile, do read the latest news here:

Article in themalaysianreserve.com
   Car buyers will stand to get a better deal once the so-called Rule of 78 in the Hire Purchase Act 1967 (HPA) is dropped. This will especially benefit car owners who decide to sell their car way before the end of their financing tenure.

This is one major change being proposed by the Consumer Credit Oversight Board (CCOB) Task Force that aims to get the proposed CCA enacted in the fourth quarter of this year.

Among the businesses impacted are those carrying on buy now pay later (BNPL) activities, leasing and factoring services, debt collection agencies (DCA), impaired loan buyers (ILB) and debt counselling and management services (DMA).

In a statement, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) assistant governor, who heads the CCOB Task Force, Abu Hassan Alshari Yahaya said it is critical that credit providers and credit service providers are regulated and conform to high professionalism or conduct standards. The article is a long one and hae a lot of details.
Article in themalaysianreserve.com

Another explanation

Briefly, if we have a loan of 9 years for example, most of the interest would have been paid by the borrower in the earlier part and assuming we want to finish paying for it on the second half of the loan period, we have already been billed most of the interest already. This is also reason why I think stretching loan to its maximum limit is okay if we could use the lower repayment better by reinvesting it.

Anyway, Rule of 78 is why many borrowers claim that this is super unfair to them. Just need to also note at the same time that this is also one reason why some lenders are able to offer a low rate for the loan yeah. They could get more in the beginning and the borrowers could pay less per month but over a longer period of time. Anyway, we will see how this will affect the lendera and the borrowers. Competition for more customers would help to push lenders to be willing to take a lower margin.

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RUMAWIP no more. It’s Residensi Wilayah now. What are the changes?

RUMAWIP has now been enhanced and it’s now called Residensi Wilayah (I wonder if it’s now called ResiWi)
Article in TheStar.com.my here.

Federal Territories (FT) Minister Khalid Abdul Samad said, “Its concept remains the same – that of an affordable home for first-time house buyers.

It is not the same as PPR or low-cost flats. What is different about Residency Wilayah (ResiWi) is that it is an upgrade in terms of size, has better quality and finishing, and lower density.

”An example he gave is that Rumawip used to have 1,200 occupants per acre but Residensi Wilayah has just 800 to 1,000 occupants per acre. Density will be lower and this was what Khalid said, “If a Rumawip project previously had about 400 apartment units, a Residensi Wilayah project would only have about 250 units.”

Despite these changes, the price is capped at RM300,000 to ensure it retains its affordable homes concept.

He said, “The Residensi Wilayah (ResiWi) homes are for the middle-income group, such as professionals, newly-weds and those looking to buy their first homes.”

In terms of number of launches, Khalid said that they will be launching 10,000 units this year and these units should be completed around 2021.

On the availability of land for ResiWi homes, Khalid shared that some are still available because the Negotiations Task Force was able to cancel or renegotiate some dubious land deals last year.

He said, “Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) was able to acquire an additional RM149mil in revenue, after 23 out of 97 land transactions were renegotiated with developers and landowners.  There were 10 projects that were cancelled and developer’s deposits refunded, so the land has been returned to DBKL.”
Article in TheStar.com.my here.

I think for KLites, especially the working professionals, the name change is not critical.

However, the fact that density is now lower, quality is supposedly better and size is bigger meant that they will be very happy.

As for applying for one, I searched and I think the website to apply is still the same for now.
Here’s that link.

For first-time home buyers, I think this is a good opportunity to own a home we can call our own. Remember yeah, we do not want to continue paying rental after we retire.

By then, it will be tough because our income has stopped but our largest expense; rental is still continuing. Happy getting that home sweet home.

written on 24th Jan 2019

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Running away from tax? Don’t show it on social media!

Anyone selling a property in Malaysia these days would have to pay the Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) even if the period of holding has exceeded 5 years.
Here’s an earlier article how to calculate RPGT
 Selling a property may be easier to tax because these are documented. What happens for some things which are not documented? Or deliberately NOT documented? Well, the tax department may be looking at what we post in social media! How do they know? Well, if we show our new sports car worth RM1 million but our reported income was just RM100,000 a year? This will allow them to ascertain if you were hiding some ill-gotten wealth or even running away from paying tax.

Here’s the report in TheStar
 France’s Budget minister Gerald Darmanin told weekly business TV show
Capital
that the tax administrators will start searching through social media accounts in early 2019, a pilot project in the fight against tax avoidance. He said, “(The fiscal administration) will be able to see that if you have numerous pictures of yourself with a luxury car while you don’t have the means to own one, then maybe your cousin or your girlfriend has lent it to you … or maybe not.” This will be one measure which is part of a law France enacted last month designed to strengthen the authorities’ capacities to fight tax fraud and permit a wider use of online data to bolster fiscal controls. (WOW!)
Here’s the report in TheStar

Many years ago, many employers told me that they search the social media of the candidates they were about to hire. Those with questionable lifestyle will NOT be hired. I told them that it’s not that fair because many times, a professional at work does not mean they could not be a little more ‘lively’ after working hours. However, social media is firmly in the assessment for many employers these days and this is not just in Malaysia. Now… we have even the tax administrators who’s looking at what we post online. Perhaps what my close friend said many years ago is true today and tomorrow. “I do not wish information about my lifestyle available to people whom I do not know.” Happy posting… (not that new handbag maybe…)

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written on 13 Nov 2018

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Harnessing the powers of both online and offline. Cheers.

Everyone says ONLINE will kill offline. Well, I do not think so. Just go to some coffee shops and we will be able to see many drinking coffee and reading newspapers at the same time. Even my father buys the newspaper everyday.  When I was young, I read two newspapers daily. Yes, that was pretty long time ago. I used to read both the English and Malay daily. I like both actually. My first job was found through newspaper. I found my second job online and the other jobs all found me online. I stopped buying newspapers at least 10 years ago. Proptech has changed a lot of things. Real estate negotiators (RENs) who do not know what is online advertisement, does not have access to Facebook or even Whatsapp property groups will find it hard to even survive, not to mention prosper.

However, there are still people stuck in the past. A SENIOR MANAGER in a PUBLIC LISTED developer told me this, ‘Charles, my campaigns via all these offline media is many times better than online.’ I asked her how much she spent for ALL her offline campaigns and she refused to answer. For everyone’s information, just newspapers adverts alone? Over RM100,000. Haha. She was fortunate because her property was one of its kind. Facing the sea some more. As for online, well her property was launched with a FULLY functioning WEBSITE (this is online…)  So, she was using offline to drive lots of traffic to her online and from her online, people continue to buy.  I hope she continues to be successful. Coming back to the newspaper and property story. Frankly, newspapers + online would be the best working partners. Online includes property listing sites, blogs and social media. Offline should include speaker engagements too; sales manager talking versus some seemingly neutral parties would have different effects. Do both please.

Think.  If we decided that we want to buy a property within these past few years, do we immediately run to the nearest convenience store to buy a newspaper and start browsing for property advertisements? Let’s assume, we browsed through the pages and found an interesting looking property advertisement by a developer. We assume that the advertisement was done in FULL COLOURS (around the price of a new base model MyVI). Do we immediately rush to the show gallery to view the unit? Even assuming we somehow saw an interesting show gallery along the road and we decided to drop by. After listening to the sales person, do we immediately sign to buy? Seriously? No… Usually, the smartphone will be our best resource to find out what’s available, get to know why it’s good or bad as well as comparing different products based on our personal set of criteria. Online becomes critical and different channels help to connect the dots. Do read an
article in Focus Malaysia which tells a similar story

but with much more stats and different reasonings from the industry experts. Happy mixing both for the best success yeah.

written on 20 April 2018

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Expert Series with Ryan Khoo: Iskandar Malaysia’s potential and what’s really happening

Today, we have with us someone whom I would go to when I have any questions about Iskandar Malaysia. Even though I consider him as an property expert, he remains approachable and always willing to share. He has been invited to speak by many media organisations and is a
Director in Alpha Marketing Pte Ltd
 and also manages
FYI Design Sdn Bhd.

 I am honoured to have him sharing some of his views as well as some latest developments in Iskandar Malaysia.

Question 1: Many people continue to say that there’s a huge oversupply in Iskandar Malaysia. What are your thoughts?

Ryan: Actually, the oversupply that everyone is talking about is basically a mismatch of housing type against the demand / buyers. In terms of this property mismatch, we could see this situation repeating in many cities. Even the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur is facing this issue. In brief, I would say this is due to too many high end homes and not enough mass market products. There are two main points that I wish to highlight here. The current issue is also because the property type that is being built was marketed heavily to Singaporeans and other foreigners. However, we must also look at the huge potential. There are many factories being built today and Johor has had the highest manufacturing investments in Malaysia for 5 years running now. (Data as per MIDA website.)
An article for reference to understand the actual number we are talking about.

Question 2:  People say that there’s too many high-end condos in Iskandar. Some say it is even more expensive than KL. Your thoughts?

Ryan: Yes, I have heard of such comparisons. Some people in KL finds it ridiculous that Iskandar Malaysia can support so many high end condos. However, everyone does not look at the fact that Iskandar Malaysia has 3.7mil SGD income earners next door. There are also many Mainland Chinese visiting here. So its not really surprising in some sense. As for the future, the next two catalysts for Iskandar would be the MRT and the High Speed Rail (HSR). When both are fully operational, the spillover will happen. If we are asked whether we should build later when everything is ready or to build today and having them ready a few years later, I think the latter is better.

Question 3:  Iskandar Malaysia has also been positioned as for entertainment (theme parks) and education. Your thoughts?

Ryan: Many people may not remember but Legoland opened for business in 2012 and today it has hotel, water park and a new aquarium may be coming by the end of 2018. This has shown us that the theme park theme is workable and Iskandar Malaysia is a good place to site them. Another prominent theme park developer and operator, Sunway will have an extreme sports park by early 2019.There is also another indoor sci-fi theme park in 2019 and the Desaru theme parks/ hotels will be largely operational by end of 2018. All these would represent a phase 2 from just a lone Legoland in 2012.

When we talk about private education, it’s a huge business today in Iskandar Malaysia and this starts to mirror the progress in Kuala Lumpur. We can already see many high-income foreigners and this continues to support private schools here. We could see many Korean families in JB because their kids are schooling in one of the Big 3 schools namely Marlborough, Raffles and Sunway International. These are actual happenings on the ground today and not a future aspiration anymore. In fact, education institutions are the no 1 tenant provider for Iskandar Puteri now.

Question 4:  What would be the outlook for Iskandar Malaysia since there is now a new government?

Ryan: In the short term, there will be uncertainty as we wait for the new government to decide on all policies. Singaporeans are also generally wary of Tun Mahathir as in his time as Prime Minister previously the relationship with Singapore was not all-smooth. However, my feeling is that projects such as the High Speed Rail and MRT to Singapore will still continue as the demand is very strong from the ground for this to happen. It will also yield great benefits to both countries. In the long run a new government is good for Malaysia as it allows reduced corruption and increased efficiency. All these are good for Iskandar and Malaysia as a whole too.

Feel free to visit Ryan’s Facebook page for all the latest updates on Iskandar yeah.

Thank you Ryan for the latest updates. We will definitely be in touch with you for continuous progress updates. Cheers.

written on 19 May 2018

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US$1.375 Billion settlement in inflated ratings case.

Investors love ratings. It gives them a sense of direction and confidence. However, what happens when the rating agency you trust did not rate accordingly? Perhaps they under-rated and you missed the opportunity? Perhaps they inflated and everyone bought and later it caused huge losses for all those who believed them? I personally like to read all the ratings and analysis from all the industry experts. I seldom trust them totally because everyone would have their own analysis but the judgement should be from me after going through the actual stats. Agree?

In US, Standard & Poor’s Financial Services (S&P) will be paying US1.375 billion for a settlement of a Justice Department-led lawsuit. The lawsuit said that the ratings firm had inflated ratings in the years before the financial crisis. This settlement is related to ratings issued by S&P between 2004 and 2007. Note the following carefully. This settlement does not contain any findings of violations of law by the company according to McGraw Hill Financial which is the parent company to S&P. S&P said this settlement is to “avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense of further litigation.” In brief, this settlement’s main purpose is to get the case out of the way and not prolonged. Do not be too alarmed, in developed nations, these do happen and it’s just another usual court case.

Now, what do you think about ratings agencies? Well, I still think I love them and would want them to continue their ratings business. Agree or not is a personal matter. Just remember that decisions should be based on what you believe from what you read. It should not be the fault of these rating agencies and it is highly unlikely that you can sue them for a decision gone wrong for you. Happy rating everything in the world today.

written on 7 Feb 2015

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S P Setia Bhd FY20 results are black and red too

Property developer S P Setia Bhd has just announced their FY20 results and it’s both black and red at the same time.

For Chinese, red is an auspicious colour, more so during the Chinese New Year where everything is in red. Black is not a good colour to wear during the Chinese New Year. However, in the financial world, ‘return to black’ is a positive description while, ‘results are in red’ meant that the company is suffering from losses. Thus sentences such as ‘always in the black’ is a very positive one while ‘always in the red’ means this is a company which investors may want to avoid.

Article in theedgemarkets.com
  For Q4 FY20, property developer S P Setia Bhd was back in the black with a net profit of RM55.49 million. This is versus a net loss of RM263.43 million in the immediate preceding quarter. On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, the group saw its net profit for 4QFY20 drop by 24.03% y-o-y to RM55.49 million, from RM73.04 million in 4QFY19.

For the full financial year, however, the property developer was in the red with a net loss of RM321.03 million, from a net profit of RM353.75 million in the previous financial year. In a separate statement, the group noted that if one were to exclude provisions from its Battersea project in the UK, it would have had a profit before tax of RM319.2 million for the entirety of FY20. Please do refer to the full article for more detailed explanation.
Article in theedgemarkets.com

Foreign exposure is less predictable versus the local developments

Battersea project is a super huge project and thus any delay caused by unforeseen circumstances is likely to weigh heavily on S P Setia’s numbers. This also meant that should situations become better and their UK project starts to deliver, we would see a huge contribution from it to the overall number too. Let’s hope with the vaccinations in both the UK and Malaysia, things will continue to get better for S P Setia and all of us too. Happy understanding.

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‘Buying’ 4,263 acres of landbank to become one of the largest in Malaysia

Permodalan Nasional Berhad is looking to merge S P Setia and I&P to form one of the largest property developer in Malaysia. This merger will create a company with close to 10,000 acres of landbank.
As per TheStar article on 18 April, this is 3rd largest in landbank size.
As we know, S P Setia is the developer of Battersea in the UK. An earlier article here:
Brexit, London properties and Malaysian developers

 This is one Malaysian developer which has a high profile within Malaysia as well as developing huge projects overseas. In a report in
TheStar,
 S P Setia is said to have entered into a non-binding memorandum of intent with Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Amanahraya Trustees Bhd to start talks on the proposed acquisition of I&P group. This is said to allow it to expand faster. If the deal goes through and S P Setia becomes the new owner of I&P, it will also own 4,263 acres of landbank in the Klang Valley and Johor Bahru.

S P Setia’s President and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen said this about the acquisition of I&P, “will allow us to tap the synergistic opportunities that I&P Group could offer given that its landbanks are local within growth areas in the central part of the Klang Valley and Johor Bahru.” Beyond this, S P Setia will also be buying 342 acres of prime land in Bangi from Seriemas Development Sdn Bhd which is also a subsidiary of PNB for about RM447.58mil. The acquisition of this piece of land from Seriemas Development will enable S P Setia to carry out a mixed development township comprising residential and commercial property products with a gross development value of RM2.74bil. What’s available in Bangi today? Well, take look at the image for what I found for condos below RM500,000. I think the choices for landed are also aplenty too but of course Bangi is definitely still growing. Perhaps with S P Setia, the growth would now become even faster.

This was not the only positive news about S P Setia. It was also one of 24 bidders for a piece of land in Toh Tuck Road, Singapore. It’s bid was said to be the highest. Reported here in
TheStar. SP Setia Top Bid.
 S P Setia also won the top award in
The Edge Malaysia
 Top Property Developers’ Awards (TPDA) 2016. They were awarded as the Top Developer. This was the first time that it has won after being placed in 3rd and 4th in 2014 and 2015 respectively. According to a report in
TheEdgeMarkets,
 S P Setia’s development called TRIO achieved 60percent take-up rate during a recent weekend launch. As one of Malaysia’s most prominent developers, I hope they continue to build not just within but outside as well. It will indirectly help the local property market too. Who knows the buyers of their London project may also buy another of their project in Malaysia as well? Happy following.

written on 15 April 2017

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S P Setia is confident with Melbourne property demand

Most Malaysians I know love to visit Australia. It’s really apt that their two cities;
Melbourne and Sydney is always among the world’s most liveable cities.

Personally, I have been to Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. Total days spent in my Australian trips thus far is 32 days. I think my family and I enjoyed all three cities tremendously because it’s really well managed’ cleanliness, safety and connectivity. Even the roads are free from potholes! 🙂  Okay, I will save some money and travel there again in the future. It is also the top destination for Malaysian students when it comes to tertiary education too.This is why some parents are buying properties there for their children.

Many Malaysian developers have developments there too. Here’s an
article about S P Setia in Edgeprop.my here.
 S P Setia Bhd’s president and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen said that the company is optimistic about the property demand in Melbourne, Australia. The resilient demand is reflected in the sales of S P Setia’s latest offering – Sapphire By The Gardens luxury integrated development, which has seen 95% of its residential units taken-up since its launch in June last year. He said, “There is a mix of buyers from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia as well as other countries. The integrated development concept and the strategic location in Melbourne city are the main attractions for the purchasers.”

He was speaking to the media after the ground breaking ceremony of Sapphire By The Gardens at its construction site at Exhibition Street today. This is also the S P Setia’s fifth and biggest project at Melbourne’s Central Business District. The development carries a GDV of A$960 million (approximately RM2.8 billion). Sprawled across a 4,140-sq m (1.02-acre) plot in the heart of Melbourne city centre, the “twin tower” development, which designed by Cox Architects and Fender Katsalidis, comprises two 60-floor towers with a sky bridge linking both towers that houses the 500-room Shangri-La Hotel in Melbourne, 345 luxury apartments as well as office and retail spaces. Meanwhile, Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp said Melbourne has attracted 13 million visitors in 2017. Full
Article in Edgeprop.my here
 for reference yeah. Lots of other details about the developments too. Happy following.

written on 15th Oct 2018

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S P Setia: RM1.19 billlion properties sold in Q1. Positive.

How do we know if the property market is healthy or not doing well?

Results of listed property developers always tell a much better story than that friend who told you that the market is about to crash. Maybe he does not have any property. Or that friend who told you that if you do not buy now, you will lose the opportunity of a life time. Most probably, he has some properties to share with you… So, instead of listening to people, we could also keep ourselves updated with the results of property developers instead.

Article in themalaysianreserve.com
   S P Setia Bhd has recorded a strong sales performance of RM1.19 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.  78% of this sales performance was contributed by local projects (Yes… Malaysia) and remaining were by international projects mainly Daintree Residence in Singapore.

For local sales, it came from Central region at RM705 million, followed by the contribution from the Southern region at RM148 million while another RM74 million was from the Northern region. S P Setia president and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen said, “In addition, we had also launched a total Gross Development Value (GDV) of RM525 million landed properties. They comprise mostly of  double-storey terrace and, or semi-detached homes during this period, and the responses were overwhelming in some of our flagships developments.”  Do proceed to read the full article here:
Article in themalaysianreserve.com

Good results show we have financially healthy buyers

Someone has to buy in order for S P Setia to sell RM705 million in 90 days yeah. These buyers would have to ensure that they could show their ability to pay, else the banks would not lend to them too. Just look at below for the typical approval rates and we would know that it’s not just whether buyers want to buy but also whether banks want to lend too. At the moment, we can conclude both are still happening; buyers buying and banks lending. Below image is from
housingwatch.my

What are their projects which we could buy?

Please do google for their website to know all about their projects yeah. I am very sure all of it would be there. Always remember that due diligence is always needed because we do not buy a property from a property developer because they sold many properties. We buy a property because that property fits the purpose we have in buying a property. It could be for own stay, it could be for investment or it could be just for fun (obviously, this is a different level of buyer). When the reason is right, then the decision to buy will be alright.

As for whether it’s good to buy S P Setia share, well this is their current numbers:

Info from i3investor.com
.  It’s considered a liquid stock. If we look at the target price, it does seem that it’s current price level is already at what was anticipated.

Happy following results of property developers to understand the property market.

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S P Setia’s FY19 RM6.8 billion worth of launches

S P Setia is a developer I personally follow because of its size. (GDV wise). So yes, you will usually read about these few biggest developers in Malaysia and their happenings in kopiandproperty.com  Let’s understand that if Malaysia’s largest few developers are doing okay, I think the market is not as bad as what people say.
We read earlier of IJM’s results, click here to read.
 Then, we read about
IOI Properties’ results too. Click here to read.
Good news to share. S P Setia is targeting a 10% sales growth target for 2019 and it will be launching RM6.8 billion worth of properties for its FY19 because it expects the industry to recover soon.

Article in TheMalaysianreserve.com here.
“This represents a sales growth of about 10% and will further solidify SP Setia’s position as the leading property developer in Malaysia,” said President and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen. Furthermore, he was confident that the market will improve this year as it had “bottomed out” last year. SP Setia said local launches will be concentrated in the central region with the planned launches being RM4.98bil.  “This includes new projects from I&P Group Sdn Bhd’s landbanks such as Setia Alaman (as an extension of Setia Alam), Setia Mayuri in Semenyih, Setia Tropicale in Salak Tinggi and newly acquired landbanks in Cyberjaya known as Setia Safiro,” Khor added. Launches in the southern region are at RM1.17bil and comes from Setia Tropika, Bukit Indah, Setia Indah, Setia Eco Gardens and Taman Industri Jaya. Meanwhile northern regions will see launches of RM349.3 million while East Malaysia will have launches totalling RM163.5 million. For the full year, SP Setia posted a cumulative FY18 net profit of RM670.96 million, a 32.48% drop from RM993.7 million a year ago, while revenue fell 16.19% to RM3.59 billion from RM4.29 billion.
Article in TheMalaysianreserve.com here.

SP Setia’s President and CEO Khor has said that he is confident of Malaysia’s property market recovery and that it has bottomed out in 2018. Due to his confidence, S P Setia is launching RM6.8 billion worth of properties. Do note that launches in central region alone is nearly RM5 billion or 73 percent of the total. The total for northern and southern would be RM513 million and this comprise 7.5 percent of the total launches. Remaining would be outside Malaysia. A look at the net profit for the year versus the total revenue may tell us that the profits are falling faster than the revenue. Lower property prices or lower priced properties versus a year ago? With the current unsold units mismatch, I think the developer which is able to launch properties at the right price will continue to sell well, even if the margins may be lower. Happy following.

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Article written and edited by Charles. News article summarised by Dina Batrisyia.

written on 6 March 2019

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S P Setia may hit pre-sales target of RM4 billion

Property developer sales results as another sign for the economy

Besides the stock market which may reflect the economic situation, developer’s sales results are also another way to know if the economy is doing well or not. Imagine an econmy where unemployment is high. Salary earners would be worried and definitely will not make any house buying decision until they feel certain that their current job is certain. This is why during a slowdown, property developers will feel the pressure because many buyers may not be thinking of buying a property.

Is RM4 billion a big number or a small number?

We have a developer who will reach its own pre-sales target of RM4 billion for one financial year. Yeah, that’s considered high in case you like to know what does RM4 billion sales target means. Typical Gross Development Value (GDV) for a developer will be lower than RM1 billion per project.  They may do 1 or they may do 2 or 3. That’s to be built over a few years. So, sales per year would be lower than RM1 billion. In other words, S P Setia needs to have a GDV which is many billions in order to achieve a sales of RM4 billion. Read on.

Article in nst.com.my
   The settlement of S P Setia Bhd’s Australian project, Sapphire by the Garden, which has a gross development value (GDV) of RM1.1 billion, may help the company reach its pre-sales target of RM4 billion this year.

KAF Research believes that the company will be able to create much greater sales in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22), powered by the Australian project, despite sales coming in slightly short at RM2.7 billion as of the first nine months of 2022 (9M22).

Homebuyers received Sapphire by the Garden in October 2022.

“Profit from this project will be fully recognised in the 4Q22. In addition, bookings received in 3Q22 stand at RM592 million of which the management is focusing on the swift conversion of these bookings into sales. Overall, the management anticipates stronger sales next quarter and is confident that they will achieve its sales target of RM4 billion for the year,” the research firm said in a note today. Do read the full article here:
Article in nst.com.my

So, is it a buy, buy, buy (BBB) mode?

Haha. Sorry, it will never be BBB mode for me. 3 reasons. I do not have unlimited money. I do not believe every project is undervalued. I believe BBB mode will be followed by crash mode…  Please buy after understanding. Please invest after viewing a lot of units both from the primary and the secondary, Buying by looking at brochures is ONLY applicable to those who has bought many properties and has probably sold a few of them to have RM1 million profits? Property investment is definitely going to be something I love for a very long time to come.

Happy viewing.

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S P Setia sells land. Mah Sing buys land. What does this mean?

Who are they?

Both are considered huge developers in Malaysia. One has more landbank than the other but generally (go and check which one even if some of you should know immediately right), both are very well known. I think most property buyers would know their names.  Both are always within the typical top 10 developer list here in Malaysia when it comes to total gross development value (GDV). So, why is SP Setia selling their 500-acre plot of land in Semenyih and why is Mah Sing buying up this plot of 500-acre land in Semenyih?

Article in nst.com.my
  SP Setia says that they are disposing a plot of land because this is part of its strategic plan to improve capital efficiency by monetising its identified land bank. SP Setia president and chief executive officer Datuk Choong Kai Wai said that this move is also aligned to the company’s long-term plan to move towards a lighter asset structure. He said in a statement, “The sale of this land is a good move for us. The sale proceeds will be used for investment into strategic projects developments as well as debt repayment.”   Do read the article in full here:
Article in nst.com.my

Then… who is buying and why?
Article in nst.com.my
   Mah Sing Group Bhd has acquired 500 acres of freehold land in Semenyih from a S P Setia Berhad subsidiary for an integrated township development, to be known as Glengowrie Estate, with a gross development value of RM3.3 billion. According to Mah Sing, sale and purchase agreements (SPAs) were signed with Petaling Garden Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of S P Setia Berhad today for RM392.04 million.  Mah Sing founder and group managing director Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum said this is the company’s most significant land acquisition in recent years and the scale of the project will allow very good master planning. Do read the article in full here:
Article in nst.com.my

More developments, more choices lah

When a developer has a huge landbank and they are not able to develop all the landbanks, they could either continue to hold on to them until the time they could start developing them or they could choose to sell it, take the cash and deploy the money into some other more productive investments versus just holding on to the land parcel and waiting for it to appreciate.

Meanwhile another developer which wants to start developing because they have the capacity to do so would need to buy a new parcel of land. Else, they may have to slow down their developments since they have no landbanks to develop or the landbanks they have are not the ones they want to focus currently. Whether the developer is selling or the developer is buying, this just mean that more developments are coming sooner rather than later. So, this means more choices for buyers to choose from yeah. As long as the developer has done sufficient research, they should be able to sell the properties too.

So, if you are looking for a home in Semenyih. This is another development choice yeah. if you like to know more, just google for it yeah. There are no links in this article to buy any property.  Cheers.

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S P Setia, Sime Darby Property sells. EPF-PNB buys. RM8.35 billion of Battersea.

This could be considered a friendly transaction. Malaysian companies to Malaysian funds. S P Setia Bhd and Sime Darby Property Bhd will be selling the phase two commercial assets of the Battersea Power Station to Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), in a deal worth £1.58bil (RM8.35bil). The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019. The deal was supposed to have been completed in middle of 2018 but has been delayed till current announcement.
Article in TheStar here. ?

StarBiz
 had in October reported cost overruns involving phase two of Battersea Power Station, whereby the cost of transforming the brick structure into shops, offices and residential units doubled from £750mil to about £1.5bil. Besides Starbiz, there’s also a report by The Financial Times confirming the increasing costs of labour and materials, and that renovation progress was months behind schedule, which could drive costs higher. It said restoration works for the power station was more challenging than expected, partly due to strict heritage rules and issues caused by asbestos.

The article also says that EPF and PNB will be looking at the rental yield and capital appreciation potential in the Nine Elms area, where Battersea Power Station is located. “The sale will cover office space measuring 510,000 sq ft as well as more than 100 units of retail lots and a 35,000 sq ft food hall in the power station, with construction completion by the end of 2020. “The office spaces are fully leased,” said Maybank IB Research.  According to SP Setia’s filing with Bursa Malaysia, the transaction entails a five-year rental income guarantee, net of operating income, which is equivalent to a 5% yield on the £1.58bil base price to be paid.
Article in TheStar here.

There are some unfriendly comments about this friendly transaction. My view is simple. If EPF and PNB had done sufficient due diligence, then by all means go ahead. The 5% rental yield is definitely an attractive one because with the property prices in many advanced markets, rental yields have been falling. If we were to ask investors in KL today, a 5% rental yield with today’s property price is indeed positive news too. Oh yeah, now Malaysians with savings in EPF or PNB funds can now say they ‘own’ a tiny little piece of London too. Happy following.

written on 18 Dec 2018

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S P Setia’s revenue of RM1.08 billion in 2Q 2021 is three times higher than last year

For the market in general (not property buyers), property developer’s performance as a property developer are judged based on their sales performance. Launching new developments and selling them would be a good indicator of the financial health of a property developer too. For buyers, of course the build quality is far more important but that’s another article.

Today, we look at one major property developer and what has happened during their 2Q 2021 (when businesses were generally operating) versus 2Q 2020 (when businesses were generally under lockdown).

Article in themalaysianreserve.com
 SP Setia posts 2Q21 net profit of RM74.8m. This is a vast improvement from a net loss of RM134.34 million a year ago. SP Setia says that it’s revenue was RM1.08 billion and this was three times higher than recorded last year.

SP Setia president and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen

said the group is positive with the market outlook and will focus on achieving its sales target of RM3.8 billion. He said, “We expect the economy in general and the property sector specifically to recover gradually in the coming quarters at the back of efficient rollout of the vaccination programme to achieve herd immunity, as well as the imposition of various standard operating procedures in our fight against Covid-19.”

Local projects contributed 77% of total sales and remaining from international projects such as Daintree Residence in Singapore. For 2H21, Khor said that S P Setia will be offering new launches worth RM2.47 billion in 2H21 in various townships. S P Setia has 47 ongoing projects, effective remaining landbank of 7,483 acres valued at a GDV of RM125 billion and total unbilled sales of RM10.3 billion. Please refer to the full article here:
Article in themalaysianreserve.com

Buy the property or buy the shares then?

If you found a property launched by them meets all your expectations, then buy the property lah. If you have yet to find any property you like which was launched by them but you still like to invest into a property somehow, then perhaps can also buy their shares. I do not have any S P Setia shares today and I have not bought any S P Setia properties yet.

Have not found anything yet.  We will see what happens in the future. So the decision of whether to buy a property or the company shares is up to you yeah. Decide which one makes more financial sense. If you like to know a little about the shares, here’s an overview in google.com when you type in “S P Setia share price” today (19th Aug 2021).

During better years, the price has trended higher but it is now on the lower end since 2020. Do read more from their financial results if you like.  Happy following.

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Money matters. S$36,700 to S$4mil in 50 years. Grandma vs grandson.

Two things for us to learn today, both related to money. This is the
news article about it in The StraitsTimes.
 First one is about the attractiveness of property investment, over a very long period, say 50 years? If we had bought a S$36,000 landed property in 1967, how much would it be worth today? Well, it may be worth S$4 million today. Of course, anyone who is able to afford a S$36,000 home in 1967 would be pretty rich but anyone who is able to afford a S$4 million home today? That’s definitely someone within the top few percent in the country. This is why people always say that property investment must start as early as possible. In fact, a friend who’s in the management team in one of Malaysia’s largest developer used to tell me this long time ago. He said, ‘Everyone knows the
best time to buy a property was 20 years ago.

Not many think of today as the second best time.’ He may be from the developer side but I agree wholeheartedly with his statement. Think about it.

Second thing we learnt is this. The grandmother is suing the grandson because she wanted to ensure she has a share of the house that her grandson was about to sell. Her name was however not in the will which was drawn up by her husband; the grandfather of the grandson. Money is the cause of many issues. Not necessarily problems but the court case has shown us this actual fact which is the main reason for the court case. Imagine if the home value is still the same as 1967…. Financial stress is a huge topic. According to a survey by the Australian Psychological Society, finance is the top reason for stress.
Here’s that news article in abc.net.au
In order to have less of these family feuds, it is best that everything is done way before some parties leave this world. Arguments / debates should have happened much earlier if necessary. Else, it will become a court case which would usually last many years and whatever family relationship there is will be long gone. Do read the full facts of the case again.
The Straits Times article.

My good friend said that he has never failed to advise couples that it is best not to buy a property jointly unless they are married. While people may not stay married forever, couples who are not married would usually have a higher probability of breaking up and the jointly owned property would become a source of stress. Perhaps I may add that it’s best for married couples to buy properties because if they do, then they have less money for all other useless stuffs.
More money in pocket, more things that we WANT to buy. Right?

Lessons? Property prices do go up, even in secondary cities. My parents bought a semi-detached home in 1987 for RM86,000. Well, it is nowhere near RM4 million but it has multiplied by about 6 times, still an awesome number considering that it is 30 years later. Note, it should be in a good area for this kind of appreciation. There are certainly areas in Ipoh which is still not super attractive today. Secondly, please be aware of the legal implications and take steps to safeguard what is ours way earlier than when it’s needed. Just like financial awareness, not knowing enough is a peril. Happy buying a home, jointly. (Just make sure it’s clear…)

written on 10 Nov 2017

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Sabah property market: A debate between minister and Shareda

State Ministry of Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor has asked the developers in Sabah to reduce the prices of some houses as the developers have been getting profit margins exceeding 30 percent for them. This is needed because the people are finding it tougher to buy a home to call their own. The state Housing Controller, through the Local Government and Housing Ministry deputy permanent secretary Rayman Loudrize, has also informed developers to reduce the prices of their new projects or this will result in their housing development licence, advertising permits and price list applications not being approved.

Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (SHAREDA) president Datuk Francis Goh responded by saying that the 10% reduction was unreasonable as developers were already complying with the 30% cap in profit margin. This new order issued last month would most probably be discouraging the developers from launching new projects. Besides that, despite the fact that the 30% profit margin was not a written rule, Sabah developers have always worked closely with quantity surveyors to ensure the proposed selling prices are below the cap. Due to this order, the developers have no choice but to go to court to seek a judicial review on the Housing Controller’s order.

I think both sides would have their own sides of the story. With a slowing demand and the prudent lending approvals from the banks, the total property transactions is already on the way down. I think there is some truth in the fact that market forces may dictate prices. However, I think it is important that these analysis be quantified. Not just one side but both sides. Instead of just speaking, why not show some numbers. Perhaps there are some hidden costs somewhere? The more transparent all parties are, the better it is for an objective discussion to happen. The benefit is definitely the people themselves. I think this is something that everyone has been asking from the government anyway. Happy reading.

written on 25 Oct 2015

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Sabah edition of Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) 2019. (Do not miss this!)

I love Sabah and I think this is a state with lots of potential and opportunities. Property investment is certainly one of them. We should note that the second busiest airport in Malaysia is actually Kota Kinabalu and not any other major cities in Malaysia.
(as per end 2017)
  There are always new developments every time I drop by its capital; Kota Kinabalu (KK). By the way, I go to KK once per year (at minimum) and will be going to KK again in March 2019 to speak in the largest property expo in Sabah organised by The Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (SHAREDA) and Property Hunter. I
have even successfully climbed Mount Kinabalu (highest peak in South East Asia) TWICE! (read my experience here)

The upcoming Home Ownership Campaign Expo 2019 will be held on 1-3 March at Dewan Foo Chow. Within the expo, visitors can learn and take advantage of schemes introduced by the government to help homebuyers such as the exemption of stamp duties on properties ranging from RM300,000 to RM1 mil between 1 January to 30 June 2019. For residential properties ranging from RM1 mil to RM2.5 mil, there will even be a 3% stamp duty exemption. These exemptions are only applicable to properties under developers registered under SHAREDA, REHDA (Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association) and SHEDA (Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developer Association), respectively.
I echo Elson Kho, Director at Property Hunter’s belief. He said, “Homebuyers should take advantage of the free stamp duty promotion, which amounts to a significant saving. If you are considering buying your own house, we strongly encourage you to visit the expo and learn about all the benefits and incentives that the government is offering, as well as check out the discounts and packages offered by the developers.”  These initiatives are part of the National Home Ownership Campaign initiated by the government where developers will offer 10% discounts on existing unsold properties following the exemption of the sales and service tax (SST) on basic construction materials. The Ministry of Finance has also delayed the implementation of the new real property gains tax (RPGT) as per the Budget 2019 to July 2019.
Article in PropertyHunter about the expo here.
See all of you there. Mark your dates; 1st – 3rd March 2019 @ Dewan Foo Chow.

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written on 11 Feb 2019

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24-hour approval for developers will push property prices in Sabah lower?

I do not subscribe to the reasoning that more supply means lower prices. Do not agree? Look at the price of iPhones a few years ago versus the price today. There are much higher number of smartphone brands today versus previously. Now look at the unsold properties in Malaysia. It’s also growing which meant that supply is actually unsold… or demand is just not forthcoming? Anyway, House Price Index continued to show a positive increase even if the number is now very small versus those good years.
Source: housingwatch.my

Thus, perhaps we should now read the following news with some objectivity too. More supply will definitely mean a higher competition and choices, thus the prices would have be very competitive too. Perhaps this will force the developers to be more prudent with their offerings where size, location and quality is concerned. In this case, perhaps the prices will be lower when it’s launched.

Article in nst.com.my
  Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal says that he hopes that with the implementation of 24-hour approval to developers, the houses and property price in the state will become more affordable. Shafie explained that following the replacement of the Town and Country Planning Central Board with State Planning Council, developer could now expedite their property development.

He said, “The launching of e-Planning Permission (EPP) website, was planned from the beginning, to enable all development projects to be approved (fast) compared to the  Central Board that might take as long as 10 years. If we delay the approval, in 10 years the price of all the raw materials such as cement, sand and others will go up. Secondly, there will be projects that are abandoned as there is no proper planning.”  Please do read the article in full here:
Article in nst.com.my

Please do note that the Chief Minister of Sabah himself said ‘he hopes’ yeah. He did not say it will be dropping. He also gave a few reasons why it should be lower which makes sense too. However, just expecting supply alone to push prices down is a little far-fetched yeah. This is the reason why it’s very important to read articles in full and not just the title. Remember this recent article where someone thought the
property price threshold for foreigners are now reduced to RM500,000? (read here)

As an owner of properties in the state of Sabah, (yes, I have more than 1), I will definitely prefer for property prices to rise very moderately. Slowly following half of the inflation rate is perfectly fine for me too!  It’s for the long term, no intention to become an instant millionaire from properties yeah. Happy reading and let’s wish Sabah the best for 2020. Its tourism industry has been badly affected by the Covid-19 (coronavirus).

As for all other readers who  has never visited Sabah, please do visit this beautiful state. As for those who are still sharing about how it being unsafe etc, SHAME on you for refusing to read more. By the way, I visit Sabah at least 3 times a year for the last 22 years. That’s already 66 trips. I have even climbed the Mount Kinabalu and conquered it twice. Haha. I definitely know more than anyone who has not visited it yet.  Cheers.

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Sabah: Home Ownership Campaign happening from 1-3 March 2019!

Home Ownership Campaign Expo happening
this weekend! What’s in it for you?

The Sabah Housing and Real Estate
Developers Association (SHAREDA) and Property Hunter is organizing the
Home Ownership Campaign Expo
 2019 that
will be held on
1-3 March at Dewan Foo
Chow
 in KK. This initiative is in line with the government’s effort to
promote home ownership to the masses.

Once in a lifetime incentives

Stamp duty exemption on Instrument of Transfer (MOT)
 – 100% stamp duty exemption on the instrument of
transfer for residential units valued at RM300,001 to RM1 mil. For units
ranging from RM1,000,001 to RM2,500,000, buyers will only pay 3% stamp duty
instead of the 4% stamp duty that will come into effect on 1 July 2019.

10% discount on properties
 –
The Ministry of Finance Malaysia has set a minimum 10% discount for developers
to offer, which means additional discounts might be on the table at the
discretion of the developers.

Stamp duty exemption on Loan
Documents
 – 100% stamp duty exemption on bank loan document
(which is usually 0.5% of loan amount) for properties valued up to RM2.5
million

New
loan schemes
 – Banks like Maybank have
launched special loan packages in line with HOC. Buyers will find that these
deals might be more tailored to their financial mileage and has better terms
compared to conventional home loans.

Free property & tax talks

There will be a series of talks focusing on home ownership
(particularly for first time homebuyer / investor) as well as taxation related
topics. The talks will be conducted in English and Mandarin language. You may
also sign up for a free guided booth tour where you will be introduced to all
the projects on site.

Over 30 projects to choose from

There are over 30 projects on exhibit with projects from KK,
West Malaysia, Australia and Cambodia. However, several brand new projects
worth noting are:

Parklane in Bukit Sepanggar by Wah Mie Group
Damaisari in Kolombong by SCP Group
Vision Garden in Penampang by Sri Moraine
Elemen Utara KK in Menggatal by SinaLand
Aster Residence by Amber Homes in Cheras (PJ)

Keen to know more?

Come visit the expo on 1-3 March 2019 (10am – 8pm) at Dewan
Foo Chow, Kota Kinabalu. Or you may also visit
www.propertyhunter.com.my/expo

for event info.

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Sadness is a feeling, readiness tomorrow means doing something today

After we bid farewell to our full time job after 56 or 60, do
we still want to continue working?
 The answer is not important as long as that’s what we really want. Today, I felt sad for a few minutes in an encounter with an old uncle. I was having breakfast with my family in Ipoh. We were ordering our drinks through an uncle who’s still fit and sharp. I think he’s slightly over 60 but looking much more alert than most at his age. In fact if he were to have a boxing match with my father, he may just win. He wrote all our orders into a small piece of paper and when he returned with the drinks, he got one of it wrong. He just laughed it off.

After my mother paid for the drinks, he suddenly remarked that my father is
luckier than him
. He said my father must be the same age as him but he is the waiter while my father is sitting there enjoying his breakfast. My mother said that as long as we are fit, we should continue to be active. He then told my mum that even though he felt fit to work, he did not want to. However, just pumping petrol for his car alone is RM200 a month and his daughter gives him just
RM500 per month which is insufficient.
 For a while, I felt sad for him, the same feeling I had for the uncles and aunties who were still working in food courts everywhere including Singapore. Sometimes, it may not be their fault. Perhaps many circumstances happened. Some may have been cheated to part with their savings or assets for some reasons.

On our way home to KL in the afternoon, I reminded my wife that we must always remind ourselves
never to overspend
 and to save whenever and wherever we could. We do not need to look good to the outside world but we may be a mess inside. Fortunately for me, my wife is even more careful with our family spending than me. I guess as long as I am still married to her when I am very old and retired, she should be able to still treat me meals from her savings. I also asked my 3 1/2 year old daughter if she would take care of me when I am old. She did not understand fully but answered YES anyway. Remember, sadness is just a feeling, it does not change anything.
Getting ready is a doing.
 In other words, appropriate actions when we still have time to do something. Happy doing.

written on 3 July 2016

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Safe to buy, why not. Challenging time, sure too.

I was in Singapore for a business trip, conducting some workshops and was speaking to a senior manager who asked me if it is really safe to still buy properties. He said his brother-in-law wanted to buy a property in Iskandar but said that the prices are already over a million ringgit. First question, is it safe? I told him that let’s just say if I come across a good deal, I hope the bank can approve my loan application. In brief, as long sit is not a speculative buy, yes I personally think it is safe. Note, buying overvalued properties due to some special reasons will always be unsafe. Regardless of economy. Secondly, his brother-in-law who is thinking of buying should have a reason why he is buying. It’s not about the price. Is it for his own home? Well, if he could afford it, nothing wrong with a RM1 million property. If it is because he believe that the prices are already
bottoming as per a report by PropertyGuru,

then I hope he is right. I do not have so much money to ‘gamble’ on buying a RM1 million property to wait for any rebound.

There’s one article in NST telling us that the property market remain a challenging one. Here’s that full article:
Property Mart Still Challenging
 A few key messages from the article. Share prices of some developers are already moving up but the property market is still tough. Reasons for this include weak sentiment, low affordability, stricter bank lending and rising supply. (Weak sentiment, I fully agree. Somehow despite the economy chugging along, the market is pretty negative. Low
affordability is something I disagree. Again I think it’s acceptability
 and the ‘buyer quality.’
Spending too much would cause the bank not to lend them money.

stricter bank lending? Haha. Okay, if they say so, surely they have their reasons. Thus far, many friends told me that their loan application has been approved. Perhaps they applied to the right bank. Rising supply is quite true, usually the number of units  per development are now over 1,000 units easily.)

Despite all these reasons, Public Investment Bank Bhd (Public Invest), analyst Tan Siang Hin said that prices will hold up well. The few positive reasons include ample liquidity, high input costs due to compliance and land costs, a low interest rate environment and strong secular positives — young demographics and improved connectivity resulted from spending on mass rapid transit, light rapid transit and high-speed rail. (Ample liquidity means banks would have to lend. Else, they would start reporting lower profits soon. I just wrote about
demographics a few days ago.

Yes, even the new MRT Sungai Buloh – Kajang should help a bit because we now have even more choices which are connected. Let’s hope people start considering more areas okay. Else, prices will go up but only for the few usual areas only.) Full report in NST here:
Property Mart Still Challenging.

At the end of the conversation, the senior manager said that he intend to find a secondary city in Malaysia to be his retirement home. He could stretch his savings over 3 times. He also shared that he does not think of property investment as attractive because he missed buying a unit in Horizon Hills many years back when it was still slightly over RM300k. Since the

property prices are now so high
, the opportunity has passed. I just laughed but I think he has an advantage because he is already earning S$. Thus, assuming it is just savings, he would still be able to achieve his goal of stretching his money in one secondary city in Malaysia. He likes Ipoh and Melaka too. Penang is okay but is already too expensive. His brother-in-law told him of some seaview condos in Penang but he said he hope to buy something much cheaper. He does not need a luxurious one anyway. I wish him the best.

written on 19 July 2017

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Safety will always be utmost important.

Are crime rates increasing or decreasing? I think anyone who is reading this has already made a conclusion that it has to be increasing. There are a lot more of those robberies and petty thefts being circulated in the social media these days. This is the reason why many are trying their best to stay in areas deemed to be safer. Well, in an article in a local English daily recently, it was said that Brickfields has the highest number of house break-in cases among all the police districts in Kuala Lumpur. Based on theSun’s report, it found out that there are four to five cases being reported on a weekly basis in Brickfields.

This is the reason why I seriously think that if one were to consider landed property today, it’s best to buy gated and guarded projects instead. In fact, I would no longer consider any landed property without gated and guarded because I am worried for my family when I travel for business. As usual, there are people who would say that even gated and guarded does not mean that it’s safe. Great argument BUT I think it is much safer than one without. That’s the reason for the huge price difference between the ones with and without now in Klang Valley and Iskandar.

Besides that because of the ever increasing number of foreigners here in Malaysia, especially the illegal ones, crime rates would also be increasing. These illegal ones may not necessary have come with intention to rob but imagine them having no money for even food and yet could not find a job because they have no valid documents, what do you think will happen? As soon as a few of these group together, get a couple of parangs, they become dangerous to anyone who is unluckily targeted.

According to the police, for many of these illegal migrants, they would take the opportunity to break into as many houses as possible before heading home. They arrived here without documents anyway. Some of the hotspots for house break-ins in the city are Brickfields, Sentul and Cheras due to the high density of residential areas in these places. Always think of safety as priority before buying that property you love. Main reason is to protect those you love. Happy buying.

written on 20 June 2015

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Safety, Security, Gated and Guarded

These days whenever my friends told me that they are buying a landed property, my first question is always, ‘Gated and Guarded?’. And their answer would always be, ‘Yes’. Honestly, should you buy a landed property which is not gated and guarded today? For me, no. Reason? My family would be staying there and the extra premiums and maintenance fees that comes with one is well worth it. First of all, it does not mean that gated and guarded would never face potential crime. However, gated and guarded adds one additional security layer. That’s important to me. In terms of gated and guarded, my preference would be for following.

Location. Nope, I am not looking at hot areas. My reason is because I do not wish to pay through my nose for such a property. I would prefer areas which are upcoming or even newer areas. Truth is, if we look at just additional 15 minutes, our option expands tremendously. Let’s face the facts, with the ever reducing prime lands, landed properties have a better capital appreciation potential and since I am staying, sooner or later the prices would go up.

Developer. Sorry, I would not buy from unknown developers or developers with bad reputation. I do not believe in taking risks because with landed property, it is highly likely that I would be paying a premium compared to high rise anyway. For secondary properties however, I am okay to buy from any developer because I would already be able to view it before I buy. Therefore, for this, I am prepared to pay a slight premium for developers that I think is worth that premium.

Design and Space.  Between these two, I would rate space higher. Space as in the lanes in the development, parks, playgrounds, lots of trees. Basically I do not wish for the project to feel cramped. As for design, I am taking about the design of the home from outside. If it looks great, then great. if it looks average, I can still accept it as I can still renovate the interior to my liking. How about if it looks truly bad? Haha. Thus far, I have yet to see a design which I dislike so much that I never bothered to look inside.

written on 25 Sept 2014

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Safety in times of turbulence; Singapore real estate

Many of my friends told me that foreigners / international companies would stop investing in Malaysia SOON. They have lost all confidence with Malaysia. Malaysia has gone back to capital control and this has made everyone scared. I disagree with all three statements but I guess they have the right to issue statements supporting their beliefs. As for me, I still think all the
international rating agencies are right for putting Malaysia under the ‘Investment’ grade.
 I also believe all the analysts and economists who are still predicting a better 2017 compared to 2016 in terms of GDP growth. I also believe myself because I continue to look at good stocks to buy and hopefully a secondary property in 2017. Yes, I have recently started to invest in startups too under the equity crowd financing.

As for my friends, perhaps they can think about investing in Singapore. Nope, not my personal advice but this is based on a report in
straitstimes.com
 which revealed that Singapore is seen as a safer investment destination in a turbulent world today. In fact, three countries stood out as their biggest real estate investors in Singapore. They include Qatar (Asia Square Tower One deal),
Malaysia (Central Boulevard land)

and China (
Qingjian Realty’s two deals in Shunfu Ville)
 and Bukit Batok. . This is what Christine Li, the research director at Cushman & Wakefield said, “It could be due to global market volatility as a result of Brexit and the oil and gas sector. Foreign investors see Singapore as a defensive play where investment is fairly protected due to the strength of the Singdollar.”  (Hopefully SGD continues to remain strong because these few weeks have seen it moving downwards versus the US$)

The interest is with commercial properties because according to Jeremy Lake, executive director for investment properties at CBRE Singapore, “Over the next three, four years, there’s… very little new office space being completed… The more forward-looking investors are looking at that period of little supply, which will then result in rental growth.” (This is indeed good news right but I think better also look at the state of the economy. If it’s growing vibrantly, then everything should be just fine.)

Of course, everyone should note three important things when we are investing overseas. Our familiarity with the foreign market is definitely lower than in our homeland. Secondly, buying overseas property is for the purpose of hedging? If yes, perhaps can also t
hink about listed companies
 instead. It’s easy to get into and get out should circumstances change. Third, all these would depend on how that foreign country fare. Read more, understand more. If the growth is continuing, then it’s a good buy. However, if majority of analysts (not the Facebook ones) are saying the same thing, whether positive or negative, we must take note. Happy investing yeah, especially in more stable markets.

written on 23 Dec 2016

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Salary increase frozen for promotions. Pay cuts for senior management.

For some employees waiting for good news on the increment for 2020, they may be worried. COVID-19 is really starting to wreck havoc to many economies. Many governments have announced stimulus measures too.
Stimulus is coming. Please hold on
 In fact, my orders through Shopee to be shipped from China is already delayed for over 2 weeks and there has been no further updates. I am not rushing to get it. Just let the Chinese government do their best and ensure COVID-19 is under full control soonest possible instead.

Meanwhile one prominent organisation has announced a company-wide salary freeze as well as asking the senior management to take voluntary pay reductions for up to a year.  It has 800 employees from some 30 nationalities across 11 offices based on its latest annual report.

Article in thestar.com.my
 Temasek Holidngs Pte, Singapore’s state-owned investment firm has announced that it will stop all raises and salary increases linked to promotions for a duration to be determined by market conditions. Besides that, the firm will also introduce partial cuts to the annual bonuses of senior management as well as asking them for a voluntary pay reductions by as much as 5% too.

This is not the first time such a measure has been taken. Temasek took similar measures during the SARS outbreak in 2003 and during the global financial crisis in 2008. Temasek has 26% of its investments in China as at March 2019. Thus, COVID-19 would have affected its portfolio negatively. Singapore has just lowered its growth outlook for 2020 to a range of -0.5% to 1.5% as it has suffered hits to tourism and trade.  Please read the full
Article in thestar.com.my

Seriously, I think this measure is only temporary. We should be able to beat COVID-19 in the near future and hopefully we have a V-shaped recovery starting from China?
V-shaped recovery for China from COVID-19 (click to read here)
 For the rest of us, hopefully we did save enough in case our increment and bonus is also going to be delayed for a while. Unforeseen circumstances may happen, always be prepared, financially. Happy understanding and please continue to spend if necessary yeah. The economy needs some of your salaries as well.

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Salary Increase. If the boss is not giving, are you leaving?

On a morning many weeks back, I was listening to the radio when the issue of bonus came up. After working so hard for 2021, surely people would be expecting something from their bosses? Bonus is all about the past performance and results while salary increment is for future expected performance. Let’s talk about bonus first. The DJ asked for comments from the listeners.

Most callers who called in / left a message was saying that they do not expect a bonus because their company management said Covid-19 was a big issue. Thus, business condition was tough. One called even said that bonus has been missing since 2020 and expects 2021 to be the same. One called and said that the business condition seems to be okay but somehow the management said there would be no bonus.

Actually, it’s too late to do anything if the bonus is indeed not given. However, what about salary increment then?

Article in thesundaily.my
  In a survey by Mercer (Total Remuneration Survey) across 544 organisations of which 97% are multi-national companies (MNCs), the companies have forecasted a median of 4.5% increase in overall salaries for 2022. These MNCs are from 10 different industries.

This 4.5% is below Asia-Pacific average of 5.4%. For variable bonuses, employers in Malaysia will be giving out an average bonus payout to 2.2 months for 2021. This is very slightly higher than 2.1 months in 2020.  Across the region, Pakistan (9%) reported the highest salary increase while Japan’s 2022 estimate is the lowest at 2.3%. Please do read here for the full details:
Article in thesundaily.my

What if salary increment is not given?

If salary increment is not given, perhaps it is a good time to think and decide if the current company is indeed the best place to stay. The reason is a simple one. If there are so many other companies which are giving out increments, then it may be wiser to move there instead. As for the number of jobs available, well as at today 24th December 2021, the below is a screenshot of
jobs available in JobStreet.com
 There are a total of 76,394 jobs.

What if we could not get another job and has to continue with our current job?

Then it is time to really understand why is this happening. Is it because of our work experience? If it is, then perhaps it’s time we do more, learn more and then possibly achieve more.

If it is because of academic qualification, then it’s time we upgrade our current qualification. Many jobs continue to require a degree because they have a salary range which is also determined by a minimum academic qualification. This is a reality, we need to do something about it because complaining will get us nowhere.

If we have the work experience as well as the academic qualification but we still could not get a job…. then it may just be our communication capability. If this is the case, it pays to improve this so that we could do well in the interview. Need a suggestion?
Join Toastmasters! (click here to know more)
or just whatsapp Charles for more info yeah. Charles is the Club Growth Director for District 51 Toastmasters for Term 2021 – 2022.

Frankly speaking… if there are jobs which gives out bonusses and salary increments and we are stuck in a job without bonus and salary increments, the issue may not be with the job or the company or the boss yeah. It’s really up to us to do something productive about it. Truth hurts but at least now we can take steps to change for the better. All the best for 2022.

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Hey, are you above or below everyone else? Salary increments lah.

It’s already 2020. It’s past the Chinese New Year. I think most of everyone already know their salary increments for the potential their employers see in them for 2020. By the way, increment is for the potential. It is NOT for past performance yeah. I believe you can perform a higher role, so I promote you and I pay you a better pay.  There is no such thing as I give you MORE responsibilities first and if you could do it, then only I pay you higher salary. Well, these employers will soon lose their best employees and only have the not-so-awesome ones who will remain in the company. Not a good thing to have yeah.

To those employers who wonder why their top employees ALWAYS leave even though they gave them opportunities and pay them higher when they perform… 😛  I think most would already know whether their hardwork has paid off handsomely; higher bonus compared to last year. If bonus is low or none BECAUSE the market is slow, better hope that all industries are the same yeah. Else, do not blame the employee who switched to another employer who is willing to pay bonus. Malaysian employers and employees may want to look at what the industry seems to be paying.

Article in humanresourcesonline.net
   Willis Towers Watson has provided a yearly outlook on actual and projected salary increases in 2019 and 2020 across 20 markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The projected salary increase at the regional average is expected to be 5.7%. (Hey, pretty okay.)

Details by country as per the chart below:

Source:
https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/salary-increases-in-2019-and-2020-asia-pacific-outlook/

Edward Hsu, Business Leader, Data Services and Compensation Software, Asia Pacific, Willis Towers Watson
, commented: “Jobs in sales, engineering and technical skilled trades are the top three functions that organisations are likely to recruit in the next 12 months. “In particular, engineering jobs are in demand and this could be driven by the increase digitalisation and ongoing transformation of business across industries.” Please refer to the comprehensive
Article in humanresourcesonline.net

We can see that Vietnam has the highest salary increments yeah. Typical average salaries of Vietnamese working professionals is around
17,400,000 VND
 (RM3,100) per month. Info source here.
 The lowest salaries are around 2,350,000 VND (RM419).  Meanwhile Singaporean working professionals will only have a 4% increment. However their
median gross income is S$4,563 (RM13618) (info source here)
.

Malaysian working professionals are in the middle I think. Average
salaries are RM3,274. (info source here)
 Even the increment which is at 5.2% is in the middle too between Vietnam and Singapore. Yeah, I know, the Singaporean dollar exchange rate meant that it’s tempting to get a job there yeah. Anyway, it’s a choice yeah. For the rest of us who’s happily working here, happy working and wishing you the best in the increment expected for 2020. Happy working.

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Salary increment needs to be higher than property price increase. Don’t disturb this balance.

Please take a look at the image below. Latest one from
edgeprop.my newsletter
. Information is from NAPIC and Malaysian Employers Federation. What it tells us is something very important if we intend to have a sustainable property market moving forward. The reason why people say the property market is not sustainable was because prices were running far ahead of our salary increments. Okay, with the current market condition, the salary has finally managed to leap ahead.

If you could see, the salary increase has always been around 5% since 2011 till 2019. The home prices meanwhile has always been above it. Look at the house price growth very closely. It is STILL in the positive territory yeah. Just that the increase is now probably 1% or may even be lower but still above zero. Latest available Malaysia House Price Index (MHPI) from
housingwatch.my
as below: (as at Q1 2019.)

Please notice the average house price growth between the years of 1990 – 2017 was 6.4%. To anyone who believes that this average will be back, I personally hope NOT. Remember those years when the GDP growth for Malaysia was closer to 10% and the recent years has shown that even 6% would be a great achievement? Yes, we are much close to the developed status and it’s tough to keep growing like last time.

With a much lower GDP growth from now onwards compared to the 80s or the 90s for example, the property price growth will have to also slow down. Else, the market will soon be too dangerous for first-time home buyers. Thus when we enter the property market today, please be savvy to this fact and stop thinking that everything will just follow whatever happened previously. Maybe it’s better to wish that property price growth will always be slightly below the salary increments moving forward? Happy anticipating.

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Salary is down by 15.6%. Oh dear, what now?

A close friend showed me the front page of a Chinese language newspaper. It showed the median salary of Malaysians dropping in 2020 by a whopping 15.6%.

The below are taken directly from the
Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)
. The mean (average) income which does not mean much dropped 9%. The median income meanwhile dropped 15.6%.

What this tells us is that people earning higher salaries may be earning slightly lower or almost the same but the people earning lower salaries have seen their income(s) drop.

Actually, this number may have also been caused by the people who become unemployed during the course of 2020. If the salary was RM2,000 and it has dropped to zero, this will definitely affect the overall numbers tremendously.

When it comes to age groups, the group which has the highest median monthly salary would be those in the 35-44 category. Hey, I am in this category too. We could also see that salaries of the age groups continue to rise as they become older and stopped at 35-44 which is the highest point for 2020. In 2019, the highest point was for the 35-44 age group.

I think 2020 is not an easy year for these older folks. Just too many changes which requires quick adaptations. Work from home and things going online for example.

When we look at the education level, it is clear that a tertiary qualification would provide the person with a potentially higher pay and with increments every year, the gap between the ones with tertiary education and the ones without would get bigger.

If we look into states, we could see from the chart below that Wilayah Persekutuan and Selangor would be where the highest salaries are. Actually, it’s not just higher salaries but also much more opportunities if compared to smaller towns. Remember yeah, more money does not mean better cost of living yeah. Perhaps someone earning a lower pay may have a better life in a smaller town instead.  So, this is really just a choice and perhaps a balance one need to decide.

Salary must not be the only income

I am serious yeah. The days when one income is enough is long gone. Today, it’s all about more streams of incomes as well as investing the money we earns wisely. Simply earning and spending it all does not work too.

Pivoting is needed now, start moving

We may be facing a lockdown but as at today, just within JobStreet.com Malaysia, there are over 22,000 job positions being advertised. Looking deeper into those positions would tell us that some industries are doing way better than others. This is why it is so important to pivot towards industries which are stronger or growing versus staying in a mature / sunset industry. Time and time waits for no man and if it is to be, it is really up to me.

We can also gauge if our job is a secure one if we could find another similar job easily. Just look around and understand the typical salary range. If we are overpaid for the same type of job, better worry a little and try to increase the skills to go up another level. Remember, companies pay for talents. If you are not, then take steps to become one.  Read more, study online, join Toastmasters and become a better communicator and leader. Do more today before you need to in future.

My friend is a real estate negotiator and also a part-time GRAB driver

He works only during those peak hours for 4 hours daily and the rest of the time, he’s a real estate negotiator. On a monthly basis, he earns a few thousand ringgit extra just from his GRAB part-time work. He has to wake up extremely early but he has flexibility in time as he’s a real estate negotiator.

At the moment, he’s not yet a millionaire but his median income is much higher than what was reported by DOSM’s latest stats. Frankly, in some countries, even if we wanted to, there are no jobs available. Here in Malaysia, it’s only whether you like to do it or you don’t. Happy deciding yeah and please do something about it if indeed you need a higher income or does not want another 15.6% drop in 2021.

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