PETALING JAYA: Mah Sing Group Bhd will focus on lower-priced and smaller units of serviced apartments in the next two years to cater to demand of the young population.

Managing director/chief executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum said the property developer would also offer lower-priced strata landed units.

“We are targeting to achieve sales of RM2.5bil next year and, in order to do this, we will adjust our product mix, in line with today’s sentiment and needs,” he told StarBiz.

He said the group had a sales target of RM2bil for this year. As of September, it had already achieved RM1.74bil in locked-in sales, he said, adding that the company had a total of 30 on-going projects. Last year, the company enjoyed RM1.5bil in sales.

“We are still positive on the sector for the next year and we hope, despite a prolong European debt crisis, there will be a soft landing. We believe the demand for properties will continue to be buoyant because we have a young population and there is a lot of rural-urban migration,” he said.

Leong said property purchase was very much driven by two factors – job security and sentiment.

The country’s savings rate and healthy employment market are the other factors contributing to the strong property sector.

“Beginner homes below RM500,000 will meet buyers’ needs,” he said.

The company will be offering residential properties ranging from landed with gated and guarded communities, smaller serviced apartments and small and versatile offices on commercial titles for the coming Star Property Fair from Nov 25 and 27. It will be promoting its projects in Icon City in Petaling Jaya, Icon Residence in Mont’Kiara, M City Jalan Ampang, Garden Residence in Cyberjaya and Kinrara Residence in Puchong. Although the company is promoting its Klang Valley projects, the group is also active in Johor, where it has five projects and another five in Penang.

“We see continued demand for landed residential properties in good location, especially in gated and guarded schemes. Investors know that land is scarce and construction cost will always continue to rise, although in manageable doses. It is inevitable that properties in good locations will continue to appreciate as well, and astute buyers will want to lock in their investments at today’s prices,” he said.

In today’s market, he said, prices of high-end homes were expected to soften a bit.

“We expect mid- to high-end unit to be popular. Semi-detached units priced at about RM1.4mil or thereabouts will be in demand. For bungalows it will be those RM3mil or thereabouts. The location, accessibility and the availability of amenities are other contributing factors to the success of a project,” he said.

At the same time, the company is also replenishing its land bank. It recently purchased a piece of land in Rawang of about 90ha for RM92mil.

SOURCE: The Star