He sees a very strong demand for landed units, while suburban areas are seeking out for more service apartments and condominiums. A property bubble burst is perhaps the last thing in his mind as he declares that buyers see room for capital appreciation in future years. For the next two months, the company will be busy with the launch of The Glades in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya. The Glades consists of bungalows, semi-detached, linked and condominium units within a 53-acre development area.

For a long time now, Sime Darby Property has been one of Malaysia’s strongest property developer with townships and creating lovely homes especially in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas. Their townships sell really well too, and the organization announced that it achieved highly impressive take-up rates for three of its townships as recent as end of November 2010, for the Denai Alam in Shah Alam with an average take-up rate of 85.6%, Bandar Bukit Raja in Klang at an average of 93% take-up rate and USJ Heights in Subang Jaya with an average of 90% take-up with one phase sold out within three months from its launch.

The astounding success of these projects are encouraging the developer to move forward with more well-planned communities in the Klang Valley. It also revealed that the market demands for conceptual quality homes and is able to afford it, sometimes as part of an investment portfolio.

Future launches in the company’s line-up besides The Glades at Putra Heights are Oasis Corporate Park at Ara Damansara and Isola at Subang Jaya. Isola is a luxury condominium project which includes among others, swimming pool facilities within two towers set within the prime location along Jalan SS16/1. Meanwhile, the Oasis Corporate Park features two connected office towers of 11 storeys, called the Meritus Towers at its center.

The Sime Darby Property Strategy is from Sime Darby Property

Effective 1 January 2010, the government had reviewed the minimum property price to RM500,000, much to the displeasure of foreigners and developers. In previous years, data revealed that foreigners purchase properties between RM250,000 to RM500,000 only.

Such a regulation on the federal level does not actually reflect what goes on in the State level. The State authorities have every right to overwrite this federal policy but this was not announced to many foreign investors. Most foreign buyers were caught by surprise when they discovered that the government does not require them to get the Foreign Investment Committee’s approval anymore for their purchase after they have gone through the hassles of the paperwork and processes!

But again, usually the slow approval comes from the State, not the Foreign Investment Committee. Since all states may have their own sets of rules regarding foreign purchase of properties, a potential buyer will need to find out exactly what is to be adhered to.

Penang, for example, raised the minimum price for foreigners to RM500,000 along with the Federal Government’s guidelines (the prices of new homes here have escalated beyond the RM500,000 mark anyway, especially for terrace or semi-detached houses), but with special exemptions for those who comes under the Malaysia My Second Home program. The state confirmed that these MM2H participants may buy up to two properties below RM500,000. In most cases, a purchase of above RM250,000 is passable, and if there are two properties, it may drop as low as RM150,000.

Selangor has the lowest price limit among all, with RM250,000. Johor used to keep it at RM250,000 too, but raised it to RM500,000 on 1 July 2010, plus imposing an RM10,000 tax on foreign buyers. On the other hand, Pahang is very protective over its properties, and raised the bar to RM750,000 and caught many MM2H investors by surprise when their applications were rejected despite already putting in their downpayment for the homes of their choice. Sarawak too, has a different set of rules, at RM300,000 and different regulations for those in the MM2H program. Meanwhie, other states complied with the RM500,000 as far as we know.

Foreigners Interest in Malaysian Properties is from Sime Darby Property

The division has a complicated origin, with integration of the property arms of three public listed companies: Golden Hope Plantations Berhad, Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad and Sime Darby Berhad. The complexity of this collaboration resulted in the creation of some well-known townships that combines the best of residential, commercial and retail concepts. It can be rewarding, as the division achieved the Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards 2010 in the Green Builder of the Year category, Gold Award in Property Category in the Putra Brand Awards, and Reader’s Digest 2010 Trusted Brand Award.

The company has the biggest sales gallery in Malaysia, and this was recorded in the Malaysian Book of Records. There are many awards that the company had gotten over the years since the 1990s, and they are all aimed at being the best in the categories.

In Malaysia, Sime Darby seemed to dominate the development of more expensive areas such as Subang Jaya, Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya and Klang. However, they do not stop there and ventured into managing assets. There are five commercial properties in Malaysia and six in Singapore that Sime Darby manages.

The Property Division is also involved in the hospitality industry.  In Malaysia, there are at least five properties, namely the Sime Darby Convention Centre, PNB Darby Park Executive Suites, Harvard Suasana Hotel, Genting View Resort and Subang Avenue Service Suites.  Sime Darby Property overseas too, is diversified in the hospitality business, and includes Darby Park Executive Suites in Singapore, Darby Park Serviced Residences in Margaret River and Subiaco in Australia, Karri Valley Resort which is also in Australia and the Randong Orange Court in Vietnam. There are also three golf courses in Malaysia under its wings.

Sime Darby Property has a loyalty program called Prime.  Membership is absolutely free, and there are offers of discount vouchers for its members. Another feature of this program is the periodic newsletter that is supposed to announce the new developments and news within the communities. There are three membership types, for potential Sime Darby Property home owners, existing customers and invited customers of Sime Darby Property.

Sime Darby Property Division is from Sime Darby Property