‘Tech companies and FMCGs renting more office space’

PETALING JAYA (Feb 6): More tech and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are leasing more spaces in both the central business district and decentralised locations in Greater KL, said JLL managing director and country head and Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) member YY Lau.

She was presenting on the commercial and office sector at the “MIEA Property Market Sentiment Report” launch organised by MIEA today.

* MIEA: 66.5% of real estate practitioners surveyed say property market outlook stable
* ‘Penang property market to improve in 2018’
* Johor property market is looking more positive, says MIEA Johor
* ‘Demand for high-rise residences picking up in Sarawak’

"High-tech companies such as Huawei have increased leasing from 13% in 2015 to 27% in 2017, while FMCG companies such as Nestle, SC Johnson and British American Tobacco have increased leasing from 16% to 33% in the same period. However, oil and gas and financial institutions have shrunken their take-up in office space. More companies are also starting to look at the KL CBD as infrastructure such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line are completed," said Lau.

She also noted that the office rental values in Kuala Lumpur are still attractive compared with other places such as Hong Kong in the Asia Pacific which commands rental of RM58.73 per sq m compared to KL at RM3.91 per sq m in 3Q17.

On the residential properties segment, Knight Frank Malaysia associate director of residential sales and leasing Kelvin Yip noted that more developers are expecting to shift their focus to established fringe locations as well as upcoming hot spots along the rail transportation routes, targeting middle and mid-upper income groups such as in Kota Damansara, Kajang and Cheras.

"Developers have been holding back and delaying launches while replanning their products to cater to a changing market and to match the buyer's profile. More developers have been switching their focus to affordable housing," he said.

Homefield Real Estate Sdn Bhd director Munirah Mohammad, who presented on new launches in the primary property market, pointed out that it is a buyer's market and developers are coming out with market-driven products priced from RM300,000 to RM500,000 as opposed to the previous years.

"There are developers like S P Setia who just launched their starter homes in Setia Alam last week which have seen very good take-up rates. Developers which have good concept and attractive sale packages dominantly capture the market share," she noted.