WITH the dust of the global financial crisis settling at least for now, barring further surprises, the new liberalised environment for the country’s business and property sectors is a good platform for local property players to leverage on. If the relaxed measures are able to attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the country’s business and property sectors, there should be greater demand for commercial and residential property from these foreign investors.

LAST Saturday’s launch of double-storey linked houses in Glenmarie, Shah Alam had buyers queuing up several days before selling began. The 133 freehold units, located from across a Perodua service centre, were sold in two hours. At RM750,000 for an intermediate unit, the offerings from Island & Peninsular Bhd (I&P), known as Temasya Suria, were by no means cheap.

WHEN Diane See decided to move to Ara Damansara, after her daughter Jona, 5, got a place at the neighbourhood kindergarten last year, she found the home of her dreams nearby. It was attached, with five bedrooms – but, sadly, at RM700,000, it was beyond her price range. See, who was renting in the interim, finally bought the property this year for just RM525,000. She completed renovations three weeks ago and intends to move in once the new patio is ready and the decorators have left.

PETALING JAYA: Sunway City Bhd (SunCity) will implement sustainable landscaping practices in its future property developments. Managing director for property development Ngian Siew Siong said the company was “very serious” and committed to its corporate responsibility of promoting the concept of sustainable development. “For this purpose, we are designing buildings that are not only visually pleasing but also economically viable by making sure that these buildings are environmentally sustainable and durable,” he said yesterday.

PETALING JAYA: The slew of property launches and speedy take-up rates lately are signs that the local (property) sector is on a quick rebound from the global economic downturn. In its latest report, HwangDBS Vickers Research said the local high-end property sector had been on an uptrend, with developers raking in quick profits from project launches.

RAWANG: GuocoLand (M) Bhd is lining up property launches worth RM1.7bil in gross development value (GDV) at its RM2.1bil Kota Emerald township development project in Rawang over the next seven to eight years, a senior company official said. “The remaining projects (in Kota Emerald) will last until either 2016 or 2017 and about 70% of the whole project is high-end property development,” executive director Chan Chee Meng told a media briefing here yesterday.

PETALING JAYA: Malton Bhd expects higher contribution from its construction division following the return of more building and infrastructure projects in the country. In the past two to three years, contribution from construction projects undertaken by its subsidiary, Domain Resources Sdn Bhd, has overtaken property development as the main revenue contributor at the group level.

THIS development had two things working against it initially – it was previously a quarry land and its not-exactly-glamorous Kepong address. Beating these odds is developer Perdana ParkCity, a company owned by timber-based Samling group which acquired 473 acres of the part-rubber part-quarry land for RM200mil (or less than RM10 per sq ft) in 1999 from Danaharta during a depressed market.

TSI Holdings Sdn Bhd is developing the largest wholesale city in Malaysia and the South East Asia region on 14.5 acres in Klang with gross development value (GDV) of more than RM1.5bil. Group managing director Lim Seng Kok says that when the development is completed, the city will have more than 2,000 units of shops solely for wholesale business.

A NEW trend is emerging in the property sector. Prices of many intermediate terraces in new townships have breached the million ringgit mark on the back of rising demand for these properties. And it is worth taking note particularly because these terrace homes are in areas nowhere close to being considered prime 10-15 years ago.