Housing concerns: Visitors listening attentively to the Penang Property Outlook talk by Raine & Horne Malaysia senior partner Michael Geh at Star Property Fair 2014 in G Hotel.

The state government should look into allowing special privileges for developers involved in affordable projects to pay preferential premium and levies to the state authorities.

Raine & Horne Malaysia senior partner Michael Geh said this would further enhance the smooth delivery of affordable housing projects in the state.

“There will be more incentives for them to build more affordable houses priced between RM200,000 and RM400,000 in Penang,” he said.

Geh spoke at a Penang Property Outlook talk at the Star Property Fair 2014 at G Hotel yesterday.

“The state should also fast-track the approval process for affordable schemes, as this would ensure that there is ample supply of affordable houses in the market.

“The conversion cost for land used for affordable projects should also remain low and affordable. Currently, conversion cost is 15% of the land value, which is on the high side,” Geh said.

He also said that the state should introduce balloting for bank qualified housebuyers to reduce speculation.

“The balloting process will also deter syndicates from obtaining under-counter money to sell affordable houses in the black market,” Geh said.

On the current property market, Geh said sales from developers for the past six months had slowed by about 50%.

“This is due to the high rejection rates of bank loans for properties priced from RM500,000 onwards. There are also fewer launches in the past half year as developers are holding back new projects, due to the stringent loan policies,” he said.

On property prices, the new products coming into the market were expected to be priced at around RM700 per sq ft, about 20% to 30% lower than the market price.

In an earlier talk, Zeon Properties chief executive officer Leon Lee shared about how infrastructure affected property prices.

“Infrastructure plays a vital role in determining a property’s value, as first class infrastructure would attract first class businesses and first class jobs.”

Lee said Penang has also experienced an increase in property prices after the announcement of an undersea tunnel project and construction of new highways on the island.

On Thursday, Rei Group of Companies co-founder and chief executive officer Dr Daniele Gambero said Iskandar Malaysia has a very sustainable property market due to its properly planned economic growth.

He said each of the five flagships of Iskandar Malaysia defined a few specific economic drivers such as financial district, heritage, central business district, and partial tourism.

He added that with the availability of properly developed infrastructure, Iskandar Malaysia was growing and becoming a sustainable metropolis of international standard.

“Everybody around the world is calling Iskandar Malaysia the Shenzen of Malaysia and Singapore and it is undoubtedly so,” he said during his talk titled ‘Iskandar Malaysia: The Way Forward’.

Numerologist Marinah Ng Wai Leng also provided an insight into how the science of numbers could help people become successful.

Source: StarProperty.my