MK Land to launch five new products in FY16

PETALING JAYA (Feb 18): MK Land Holdings Bhd will be launching a total of five new products in the affordable housing segment, led by its condominium project Residensi Suasana @ Damai located at Damansara Damai with a gross development value of RM400 million before its financial year ends on June 30, 2016.

MK Land chief executive officer Lau Shu Chuan said although the overall market is subdued, the group was still moving ahead with some new launches in FY16 at the affordable home segment.

The group's offering would be the Residensi Suasana built on 5.65 acres of land in Damansara Damai, comprising 780 units, which would be launched according to three phases, with 260 units for each phase. The units would be of two sizes — 1,015 sq ft and 1,455 sq ft — with a minimum price of RM450,000 or RM444 per sq ft.

Meanwhile, in Perak, the group would be launching four affordable home products: "Azalia" double storey landed houses (156 units) under its Meru Perdana 2 project, "Amber" double storey houses (130 units), "Emerald" double storey houses (27 units), "Ruby 1" single storey landed houses (132 units) and "Ruby 2" double storey landed houses (88 units) under the Klebang Putra project.

Ruby 1 is priced at RM250,000 above while Ruby 2 is priced at RM280,000 above.

The four products in Ipoh, Perak, are scheduled to be launched in March, while Residensi Suasana would be launched in April.

Speaking to reporters after MK Land's Chinese New Year gathering here today, Lau said that the demand for homes remains strong although the market is lukewarm.

In view of this, Lau said the group had obtained approval from the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government to extend the completion date of Residensi Suasana to 48 months from 36 months.

This means Residensi Suasana would be completed latest by 2020.

On the launching date of the second phase and third phase of Residensi Suasana, Lau said it would depend on the take up rate of the first phase.

Apart from affordable housing, Lau said the group still have premium housing under its Rafflesia project, consisting of three-storey units at a selling price of about RM4 million a unit. There are 26 unsold units under the project.

Asked on the group's sales target for FY16, Lau said it was more important to continue to build up sales, as it is a challenging time, and affordable housing's margin was not that fantastic.

"That's why we need to do some belt tightening," he said, adding that it would be selective in its advertising spending.

Currently, MK Land's land bank stood at 5,000 acres, with more than 4,000 acres in Perak, of which 3,000 acres are located in Lembah Beriah. Lau said the group is planning a mixed development on that land, comprising affordable housing, commercial, industrial area and an education hub.

On the group's 55-acres land in Setiawangsa that is available for sale at a price tag of RM200 million, Lau said there were potential buyers for the land; however, it would take some time as it was not easy for a buyer to secure financing from a bank for the transaction.

However, Lau said the group will not lower the purchase price of the land just to get cash to flow into the group.

As at Sept 30, 2015, the group has net cash of RM55.34 million. The group's net profit for the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 also dropped to RM2.8 million from RM7.6 million a year earlier, as its projects near completion.

Apart from its core property segment, MK Land was also hoping to leverage on tourism to increase revenue for its leisure segment. The group operates Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, Taiping Golf Resort, Taiping Gold and Country Club in Perak and Langkawi Lagoon Resort in Kedah.

He said the group will spent some capital expenditure to refurbish the resorts but would stage the work out so that the cash outlay would not be so heavy to the group.

At 12.30pm, MK Land dipped 0.5 sen or 1.37% to 36 sen, with 2440 units traded. — theedgemarkets.com

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