Singapore New Measures May Affect Malaysian Developers

Singapore's government had announced that foreigners buying private homes will have to pay an additional stamp duty that will amount to 10% of the property's price.

Singapore residents will be subjected to additional stamp duty of 3% for second and subsequent properties, while citizens who are purchasing their third and subsequent residential properties will have to pay an additional 3% on the property's value.

The new measure could affect Malaysian developers who have expanded to Singapore namely SP Setia Bhd, Selangor Dredging Bhd, IOI Corp Bhd, YTL Land and Development Bhd and sovereign  wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad.

Measures For Malaysia Property Sector

The Government has announced several measures to help keep the momentum for the property sector in Malaysia.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, proposed that the cap of houses for young working Malaysians to be raised from RM220,000 to RM 400,000 under the propsed My First Home Scheme (MFHS) which was announced earlier this year. Najib also promoted the PR1MA Scheme, which comes under the category for affordable homes.

“PR1MA will be the sole agency to develop and maintain affordable and quality homes, specifically for the middle-income group. It will be the developer for projects on land owned by the Government,” he said.

To protect home buyers, the Government will encourage the construction of more houses based on the built-then-sell.

Inline with the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), where the Government wants to raise the population of the Klang Valley to 10 million; there will be a need and increase of demand for housing. 

The slew of measures to promote house ownership among young working Malaysians showed that the Government is serious to prop up the property market in Malaysia.

SP Setia Eyes On E&O

It is learnt that shareholders from SP Setia have made overtures with Eastern and Oriental (E&O) in the recent months. However, SP Setia president and chief operating officer, Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin did not confirm nor deny of SP Setia's interest in buying E&O.

A company official who do not want to be named mentioned "SP Setia is always looking for new acquisitions including land deals and strategic stakes."

When contacted, E&O deputy managing director, Eric Chan said, the management was not in any acquisition talks with any party.

Full news at Business Times

Property Prices Rise in Iskandar Johor

The collaboration of UEM Land Holdings Berhad and Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIM) with network system Cisco to  develop and information and communications technology(ICT) and services smart city masterplan for Nusajaya.

Turning Nusajaya into a smart city will prompt property prices to rise even further. Properties selling at RM 300,000 are now at RM 400,000. Properties launched in East Ledang in 2008, has seen price increase from RM 500,000 to RM 600,000.

This will be the first "smart+connected" community property development in Malaysia, which will also integrate with retail and banking services.

Some of the catalyst development that you might know of in Nusajaya includes Kota Iskandar, Southern Industrial and Logistic Clusters, Puteri Harbour, Afiat Healthpark  and Nusajaya residences.

SP Setia Ends China Deal

SP Setia Berhad 's subsidiary, Setia(Hangzhou) Development Co Ltd. and Hang Ju Shen Construction Engineering Ltd. have terminated their joint venture contract for the development project of mix properties in Zhejiang, China.

Stated by SP Setia Bhd, it was due to the conditions set out on the JV had not been met and that the contract was conditional on getting the full approval from China's Ministry of Commerce.It was said that the termination of the contract is not expected to affect the future earnings of the company as it is only a small part of SP Setia's overall business.

SP Setia is a leading property developer in Malaysia known for its spectacular townships to commercial hubs developments. Learn more about SP Setia Bhd.