PETALING JAYA: Glomac Bhd
has expressed confidence for its outlook with an estimated 20% to 25% uptick in sales on the back of RM630mil worth of new launches for its financial year 2024.
Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri FD Iskandar said the property and real estate market has seen an improvement as compared to the previous years.
“However, to say it has recovered to its pre-pandemic numbers, the answer is no,” he told the media after the launch of Loop City in Puchong.
He continued by saying that although the labour market had improved, it is not the same as it was previously due to skilled workers now employed in Singapore or back in their home countries.
This was due to Malaysia taking time to reopen its market, post-pandemic.
Iskandar said developers’ concerns now were in regards to the rise of construction, compliance, development and material costs.
“Earlier in the morning, I received a phone call from the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) members saying concrete prices have gone up again from RM15 to between RM20 and RM25 per cubic m,” he said.
He urged the government to look into such matters and suggested it work on faster approvals and rein in certain prices as costs have gone up tremendously.
He stated that local investments were flowing back in, which brought Glomac to also urge the government to not only focus and provide tax incentives to foreign direct investors, but also to domestic direct investors.
On a separate note, Iskandar said high amounts of financing was needed and financial implications would ensue if the build-then-sell (BTS) concept is made mandatory by the government.
Iskandar questioned whether banks were ready to provide such large sums of money for the implementation of the BTS concept for developers.
“A survey was done by Rehda before the pandemic, asking what would happen if BTS became mandatory.
“Out of the 14,00 members, 85% responded that it would be too costly,” he stated.
Iskandar believes that more incentives should be given by the Malaysian government if the BTS concept is implemented.
“It does not have to be monetary incentives.
“Maybe higher density and plot ratio, or lower bumiputra quota and facilities,” Iskandar suggested.
He said that there needed to be a balance between wanting to execute the BTS, providing affordable housing as well as getting financing ready for the future.
Launched yesterday, the Loop Residence has a gross development value (GDV) of RM1.6bil.
It is the first phase of the continued Lakeside Residence at Puchong township development by Glomac, which has a total GDV of RM4bil.
Priced from RM230,000 to RM660,000, the 15.3-acre parcel of land offers 980 units of 450 sq ft and 750 sq ft serviced apartments.
Iskandar told the media that the Loop Residence will only begin construction once sales had reached a certain percentage level, while also taking into account the cash flow coming from the development.
Other projects within the Lakeside Residence at Puchong consist of Lakeside Terrace, Lakeside Semi-D, Lakeside Boulevard shops as well as the RSKU e-Khas affordable homes.
