Penang iProperty | Malaysia | UNESCO World Heritage | Month-longcelebration at George Town Festival

May 29, 2013

On July 7, 2013, George Town will be commemorating its 4th year of being included in the UNESCO World Heritage Listing.

Through the month-long George Town Festival (GTF), which began in 2010, people from all walks of life throughout the world will be coming together to this place to witness amazing performances in the fields of arts, music, dance, theater, and opera.

The GTF is also attended by international media giants like CNNgo, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal who cover it for the world to see.

This year, a lot of activities and exhibits have been prepared for everyone to witness. The following are the highlights and the dates that they will be featured:

Bambu at the MPPP Town Hall (June 7 to July 7). The Joko Avianto installation will be unveiled on June 7, is expected to attract photography and arts enthusiasts from all over the world.

I Musici at Dewan Sri Pinang (June 7). I Musici is Italy’s oldest and most renowned chamber music group who will be presenting excerpts from classical compositions of Italian musicians. It will also feature an interpretation of the Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi.

Taking Off at Esplanade (June 8). To add colour to the opening ceremony of the Penang George Town festival is Taking Off where master kite flyers will be showing off their kites to onlookers. Expected participants are the representatives from the ASEAN Kite Council. Don’t miss to get one of the free kites to be distributed later in the evening.

Obscura at various venues (June 20-30). Photography works of amateurs and professionals, including those of Maggie Steber and Ian Teh, will be publicly exhibited in Obscura. Talks and forums, workshops, as well as portfolio reviews, will also be held to enhance the skills of the participants.

Sutra at Dewan Sri Pinang (June 29-30). A brand new dance work will be presented by Flemish/Moroccan choreographer, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Inspired by the strength, skill, and spirituality of the Buddhist Shaolin monks, the dance involves 21 wooden boxes on which the dancers display their moves.

Pro Musica Gala Concert at Dewan Sri Pinang (July 6). Having performed during last year’s George Town Festival, Pro Musica features four international opera singers namely Julie Mossay, Ines Madeira, Enrico Casari, and Laurant Kubla.

Secret Gardens of Earthly Delights at George Town, Penang, and other venues (June 7 to July 7). Considered as a unique feature of the George Town Festival this year, the Secret Gardens of Earthly Delights features 10 gardens, 10 sites, and 10 artists. This project captures and reflects the heritage of both George Town and Penang.

Though not all of the events are ticketed, interested audience may get their tickets online. Visit George Town Festival website or view online programme booklet for more information.

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Penang Property | Property Value | Tenancy: Which One To Use? Lease orRent or Lease Option To Buy?

One of popular passive incomes nowadays is to have your property been leased or rented out to have rental yield return.

As a rule of thumb, [and this is happening in Penang, Malaysia] in order to obtain good rental yield you should purchase condominium/apartment versus landed property. In contrary the landed property is favour on capital gain.

'To Lease' is different from 'To Rent'. In general context these two terminologies been used interchangeably. In real estate context, these two terminologies mean different thing.

To lease your property means to have the tenancy agreement of terms more than 3 years under single contract eg. Leasehold houses, in Bayan Baru town which is 90-years. In this tenancy of lease, the tenant might launch personal caveat on the said property [without knowledge of owner] or to have the title inclusion of tenant's name by virtue of having interest. In normal circumstances the landlord is reluctant to with the insertion. To resolve this issue a long list of rent stipulate in the quantum of 3-year block been stated in Tenancy Agreement.

In essence 'To Rent' will encompass any duration up to 3 years. It could be firm tenancy subject to agreement by both parties.

'Lease Option To Buy' - This is where a tenant will rent a property with the intention to buy from the landlord in the near future which can be a period of 5 to 30 years or any agreed period between the landlord and tenant.

The benefits of this 'Lease With The Option To Buy' are, to tenant who has not built up the required down payment, and need time to do so. The tenant will be able to buy the property from landlord at a pre-determined price.

PS: In Malaysia's legal context standpoint, tenancy agreement has to pay stamp duty in order for it to be legally tender in court when any disputes arise.

Picture below: Example on quantum of 3-year block been stated in Tenancy Agreement.

This article been written by VULCAN INT'L Real Estate Research Institute(Penang iProperty) for VULCAN INTERNATIONAL Real Estate Investors Club.

VulcanInternational could be contacted at +6 016 451 1321 .

You're welcome to write your constructive comment below.

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When to start to invest in property? Buy low sell high?

21-May-2013

With the current pre-launch by developers after GE13, the property market is expected to pick up. Concentration of bulk development will be in Penang, Selangor and Johor states.

Most developers start selling their properties even without APDL. It's at this stage purchaser will be having up front investment gain once the project start up. There're few loopholes that a purchaser might want to be aware of:

(1) Deposit payment is not suppose to paid to developer. Reason being they're yet to receive APDL. The way to go around to secure deposit from purchaser is going through developer's lawyer as stakeholder. At this stage till signing of SPA purchaser still could cancel the purchase.
(2) There might be soft launch by developer. The reason of doing these activities are to accomplish two things, (a) to break even by developer , (b) to gauge the reponse of purchasers on their projects.
(3) Since no APDL been issue yet, feedback from 2(b) developer might maximize its gain. To accomplish this developer might increase number of units per floor and/or increase few more floors. Caveat: This doesn't apply to all developers.
(4) Subsale before MOT might not be allowed depending on developers.
(5) Take note that RPGT for property that been sold less than 2 years is 15% and more than 2 years but less than 5 years is 10%.

This article been written by VULCAN INT'L Real Estate Research Institute(Penang iProperty) for VULCAN INTERNATIONAL Real Estate Investors Club.

VulcanInternational could be contacted at +6 016 451 1321 .

You're welcome to write your constructive comment below.

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Property price Malaysia | Concern over property price spiral

May 16, 2013

Property price Malaysia | Moody Investors Service has raised concern over Malaysia's spiralling property prices and high household debt.
By Ranjit Singh

KUALA LUMPUR: International credit agency Moody Investors Service has raised concern over Malaysia’s spiralling property prices and high household debt that may have an adverse impact of the country banking sector.
A report released yesterday, however, said the country’s banking sector is expected to remain strong and resilient in the next 12 to 18 months.
The rating agency said that efforts taken by the country central bank in 2012 to cool the red hot property market such as to reduce the loan to value ratio had resulted in some softening of prices.
It said that moving forward, it was mindful of the risk of further price corrections in the Klang Valley should the environment become less accommodative, as these areas have experienced significant price increases in the recent years.
Household debt was another area of concern as it had grown from 75.8% as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011 to 80.5% at the end of 2012.
Although banks tightened their lending after Bank Negara Malaysia implemented guidelines for responsible financing which were implemented in January 2012, non bank financial institutions continued to expand their share of consumer credit particularly in the unsecured personal loans segment. These loans were mainly advanced to the lower income group which earned less than RM3,000 per month and could be a hazard to the banking sector in a rising interest rate environment, said the report.
The rating agency confidence in the banking sector was stoked by the incumbent ruling party win in the 13th General Election, accomodative government policies and GDP growth, which the company estimates to be in the 5% region for 2013.
On another note, Moody痴 has pegged loan growth for the domestic banking sector to be in the region of 10% this year.
In relation to the levels of impaired assets of the banking sector, Moody opined that the downside was limited as the impaired assets levels were already at record lows at the current 2% level.
Any upward movement in interest rates could also have an adverse impact on export oriented manufacturers, high loan to value mortgages and highly leveraged households, which currently account for 20% of the loans in the banking sector.
Moody said that based on the capitalisation levels of Malaysian banks, they are well positioned to meet the higher capital requirements under Basel III.
Liquidity in the banking sector is expected to remain robust given that the current loan to deposit ratio is around 79% and availability of longer term funding that banks can obtain from debt markets.
Moody stress test on Malaysian banks indicates that the loss absorbing buffers would allow them to sustain considerable deterioration in asset quality.

This content is provided by FMT content partner The Malaysian Reserve.

Source reference link: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/business/2013/05/16/concern-over-property-price-spiral/

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Property price Malaysia | Property market set to pick up pace, saysreport

May 11, 2013

Property price Malaysia | KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — Consultants have expressed confidence that Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) will continue post-Election 2013, Singapore’s Straits Times reported today.

The programme is expected to inject US$440 billion (RM1.31 trillion) into sectors such as oil and gas, tourism, financial services and urban infrastructure.

The property market will also pick up again, analysts told the broadsheet.

“Now that the election is out of the way, the property market appears to be re-energised and we are confident of seeing substantial gains over the next three years in both Peninsular and East Malaysia,” Christopher Boyd, executive chairman of CB Richard Ellis, was quoted as saying.

He cautioned, however, that there would likely be a parallel increase in supply from developers who had held back new releases before Election 2013.

“From the third quarter onwards, we anticipate that continued high liquidity, additional public expenditure on infrastructure and renewed confidence in the future will all combine to bring residential property values to new highs,” he told The Straits Times.

While the newspaper reported that many Singaporean investors have been keen on Iskandar, the analysts it spoke to warned that the development in Johor is an untested market.

Consultants see good prospects for property in the Klang Valley — bolstered by the fact Malaysia is said to have the second-lowest property prices in Southeast Asia on a per square foot basis.

Brian Koh, the head of research and consultancy at DTZ Malaysia, told Straits Times that he expects Malaysian property prices to rise by 5 per cent to 10 per cent a year over the next few years, with the steepest increases in the Klang Valley market.

Consultants told Singapore’s Straits Times that they see good prospects for property in the Klang Valley. — file pic

Source reference link: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/property-market-set-to-pick-up-pace-says-report/

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