Players Aiming For World-Class Standards

The Star: Monday July 9, 2007

EFFORTS to woo foreign property investors to Malaysia will motivate industry players to strive for world-class standards and further enliven the country's property landscape with more international-class products.

Industry players are looking forward to more positive changes and are bracing for a more competitive market that calls for higher quality and performance standards.

Sunway City Bhd senior managing director Datuk C. K. Wong has proposed an industry-wide initiative led by Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) to raise the standards of property developers to build homes of international standards.

“Rehda must set such high standards for its members in order to eliminate shoddy and defective work, poor finishes, and late completion.

“Any complaints of poor quality buildings by the foreign purchasers will completely negate the promotional activities and collapse the hopes of the property industry,” Wong said.

He said developers should be designing quality international standard properties that suited the needs of the end-buyers, be they locals or foreigners.

“They must be willing to reconfigure the design layout of their products so that foreigners find them acceptable to buy and comfortable to live in. We need to understand the likes and dislikes of our buyers, so that we are able to come out with the types of products that they want,” Wong added.

Zerin Properties chief executive officer Previndran Singhe said there was a need to focus on delivering products of international standards, maintaining assets in accordance with international standards and training real estate practitioners to handle real estate transactions on a cross-border basis.

“It would be good if our developers get themselves certified by international bodies such as the International Standards Organisation and Singapore Construction Quality Assessment System (CONQUAS) to show that they are of international standard and to start building niche products to suit foreign buyers' interest and expectations of top quality products.

“We can also do with more top quality architects, interior designers and landscape consultants,” he added.

Ireka Corp Bhd executive director Lai Voon Hon said developers should start benchmarking their projects against world-class projects.

“Property development companies should invest in research and development to constantly search for new ideas, better designs, quality products and products that meet environment standards.”

With the many changes, the property landscape in the Klang Valley and other parts of the country should see more landmark and iconic projects coming onstream to cater to the expected growing interest from foreign buyers.

Besides property hot spots in the Klang Valley, other places that attract substantial interest are Georgetown, Johor Baru, Malacca, Port Dickson, Kuantan, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.

In the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) area alone, foreign investors are snapping up luxury condominiums in downtown KL around the KLCC area for capital appreciation.

This year, some 3,500 units of luxury condominium are expected to come onstream while in the office sector, another 20,000 sq m of space is forecast to be available in 2008.

Previndran said the commercial property market, the niche residential and holiday villas markets were set to gain the most from the upcoming international promotion efforts.

“There will be more activities in terms of development, acquisition and transactions in these sectors. The non-niche residential sector can also look forward to a lift in buying interest,” he said.

According to Ireka's Lai, property types that would do well include resort and holiday homes in international destinations such as Kota Kinabalu and Langkawi and the commercial property sector, especially serviced residences and grade A offices in Kuala Lumpur.

Developers are excited by the prospects ahead and have plans for more exciting products in well sought-after addresses.

To ride on the healthy appetite for inner city properties, SP Setia Bhd group managing director Liew Kee Sin said, the company would embark on a high-end condominium project on 6 acres in Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.

Those looking to keep a holiday home in outlying areas or exclusive hideaways can consider the company's eco-friendly residential enclave in Setia Eco Park.

Meanwhile, Mah Sing Group Bhd president Datuk Leong Hoy Kum sees greater interest for its two commercial developments in Kuala Lumpur - The Icon, Jalan Tun Razak (a grade A office development), and The Icon, Mont’ Kiara (retail-commercial), from institutional investors who are looking to purchase en-bloc. The projects are scheduled for launch in the second half of this year.