Sabah property launches on hold

Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) is seeking a roundtable discussion with the State Government on effective solutions to unsold completed property units (with OC) that have been in the market for almost a year now.At the same time, the association said property developers and investors decided to put on hold property launches here pending the new government's housing policy announcements after the general elections (GE14) .

Its President Chew Sang Hai said Shareda had written a letter to Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal and Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Jaujan Sambaking, who is also the Minister of Local Government and Housing, requesting for a meeting.

With the realisation of the roundtable meeting, he said Shareda, among others, will put forward several proposals, including acquisition of overhang residential units by the government for People's Housing Project (PPR) or 1Malaysia People's Housing Programme (PR1MA).

Confident of an affirmative result, Chew said resolving the issue of residential overhang will greatly help alleviate the plight of developers and investors if the government would absorb the unsold units presently in the market.

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Statistics shows that property overhang in Sabah has reached 25 per cent, with the majority involving bumiputera units.

"When the market is bullish, these overhang properties will gradually be absorbed.

But the number of overhang units is accumulating in the current market slowdown," he said, adding that:

"Developers could previously sell off 80pc-90pc of their properties upon launching".

Given the current market scenario, Chew claimed that recording 60pc to 70pc sales for a project is now considered an amazing feat.

"The residential overhang mostly occurred at Kota Kinabalu in the west coast of Sabah.

This is mainly because 80pc of property developments are concentrated in the state capital and nearby areas," the President added.

Chew said: "The government negotiate could acquire the units below market price instead of building new homes for PPR or PR1MA...we are also hoping that the government would allow developers to transfer the overhang units to a holding company without having to pay stamp duty so that developers could lease the unsold units pending sales of the property.

On developers not launching new projects, Chew said Shareda noticed that the housing market had gone quiet as a result of the absence of new property projects.

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"Developers are currently still selling old stocks...developers had initially speculated that the market would rebound after the recently concluded general polls," he said.

In addition, Chew claimed developers, buyers and investors have adopted a wait-and-see attitude pending new policies that may be introduced by the newly formed State Government. - Nikko Fabian

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