UEM Sunrise will consider cutting property prices

KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Sunrise Bhd will consider reducing property prices only if the property developer’s overall cost to build homes can be lowered.

Managing director and chief executive officer Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib said: “Of course we would like to reduce property prices if we can, so that it will be more affordable for the people.

“We need to study this first as there are a lot of costs involved in property development,” he told reporters after announcing a partnership with ride-hailing firm Grab Malaysia.

Anwar was responding to an announcement by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng last week, who urged developers to reduce house prices.

Anwar emphasised that if there are savings in the first place, only then it could be passed on to buyers.

“But we have to look at it in totality in terms of the cost such as development charges and premiums, which affect prices, while our land prices are already high,” he said.

Lim’s statement last week came after Penang developers agreed to reduce prices by between 6% and 10% in September.

“If this does not happen, then the government may have to rethink the exemption given and find new ways to make houses affordable, especially to first-time buyers,” Lim was quoted as saying at the Annual Property Developers Conference Rehda Institute CEO Series 2018 last week.

Meanwhile, Anwar is hopeful that the government will announce measures that will ease the property-buying process in Budget 2019, which will be tabled on Nov 2.

“At the end of the day, it’s always about easy entry, easy payments and for the cost of doing business to come down,” he said.

Separately, Anwar said UEM Sunrise is optimistic about hitting its sales target of RM1.2bil for this year, as the developer plans to roll out RM350mil to RM500mil worth of projects in the last quarter of 2018.

“So far, we’re still on track. We have to go out and look for the right market. There are still some inventories that we’re clearing and we got a lot of good offers coming in.

“Maybe we have to sacrifice a bit of our margins but at least we get some of the sales coming in,” he said.

As at end-June, the group have secured sales of RM663.8mil and is on track to achieve its sales target. Its unbilled sales remain healthy at RM4.9bil.

UEM Sunrise has tied-up with Grab Malaysia to extend cashless services such as transportation, dining and shopping to retailers and customers in and around Publika (Kuala Lumpur) and Iskandar Puteri (Johor).

Source: TheStar