What can Penang offer to homebuyers and investors?

The group embarked on a loan impairment programme to raise its provisions to close the gap between banking practices and standards. The impairment programme was to raise provisions for a total RM1.9 billion between FY2016 and FY2017.

CEL Development, the property development arm of listed construction group Chip Eng Seng Corp, will preview the 720-unit Grandeur Park Residences on Feb 18. The 99-year leasehold condominium is located next to the Tanah Merah MRT station at the corner of New Upper Changi Road and Bedok South Avenue 3. The units in Grandeur Park Residences will be priced at an average of $1,350 psf, says Raymond Chia, Chip Eng Seng’s executive chairman and group CEO.

After  waiting for months on end for their applications for advertising permits and developers’ licences (APDLs) to be approved, developers in Penang breathed a sigh of relief recently — they have finally been given the nod. They are now busy with sales and purchase agreement signings and banking in of cheques, says Michael Geh, senior partner of Raine & Horne International Zaki + Partners Sdn Bhd.

Back in my student days in England, I shared a flat with a wonderful bunch of guys. Their Saturday night sport was to see who could chat up the ugliest girl in the local dance hall. On Sunday mornings, this brought some pitying looks from our neighbours.

International real estate services provider Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) foresees more foreign investors putting their money in Malaysian real estate in the next 6 to 12 months.

Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur has been in the limelight ever since it was chosen as the location for the National Sports Complex, the venue of the 1998 Commonwealth Games. To accommodate the more than 3,000 athletes, many apartment blocks were built in the vicinity.

The i-SoHo and i-Suite developments are fully sold while the Liberty and Parisien Towers projects have achieved an average of 80% sales.

Newly appointed Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) director general Dr Rahah Ismail is certainly qualified for the job. Having taken over from Datuk Faizan Abdul Rahman in October last year, Rahah is not only a valuer by training and profession, she also holds a doctorate degree in Housing Development and Finance, a master’s degree in Urban Land Appraisal and a bachelor’s degree in Surveying (Property Management).

To hop on the digital disruption bandwagon, there are many possible ways that the real estate industry could work with relevant tech start-ups.