Horizon Hills upbeat on high-end houses

Reported by ZAZALI MUSA, The STAR Online

Published on 15th September 2014

JOHOR BARU: Horizon Hills Development Sdn Bhd is confident of maintaining its status as a choice location for high-end residential property buyers in Iskandar Malaysia.

Assistant general manager Jim Woon (sales and marketing department) said the development had been steadily attracting both local and foreign buyers since the project started in 2007.

He said the company was fortunate because it was one of the first developers to offer high-end residential properties in Iskandar Malaysia.

“We are banking on the strategic partnership of two well known property developers to undertake the project and it works well for both of us,” Woon said in an interview withStarBiz recently.

The gated and guarded project is sited on 485.622ha of freehold land located in Nusajaya, one of the five flagship development zones in Iskandar Malaysia.

The 50:50 joint-venture project between Gamuda Land Bhd and UEM Sunrise Bhd will keep the two partners busy until 2017-2019. About half of its total land area has been developed. It has so far sold about 1,400 units of housing over three phases.

“As a pioneer of a high-end residential property developer in Iskandar Malaysia, we had a good start as we launched the projects years ahead of our competitors,’’ he said.

The company invested RM200mil for infrastructure and was the first developer in Iskandar Malaysia to offer golf club membership to house owners for the 18-hole, 80.93ha golf course within the development.

Woon said prices of residential properties at Horizon Hills were higher than the average selling prices way back in 2007.

Its first phase, with a gross development value (GDV) of RM220mil, comprised 453 units of link houses, cluster homes and semi-detached houses with average selling prices of RM300,000, RM450,000 and RM750,000 respectively.

“Many were caught by surprise with the price tags then but we managed to sell all the units,’’ he said.

According to Woon, that prompted the company to increase its selling prices for the second phase, with a GDV of RM400mil, which comprised 650 units of similar dwellings as in phase one. Buyers took delivery of their properties at the end of 2009.

Singapore buyers keen on Nusajaya projects

by Cheryl Tay

Propertyguru

Singaporean buyers have shown keen interest in Nusajaya (pictured) projects in Johor, which is good news for developer UEM Land Holdings Bhd.

Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim, Managing Director and Chief Executive of UEM Land, said that the recent move to tighten housing regulations in Singapore has impacted purchasing power in the country.

"Generally, our Singaporean neighbours are in favour of higherend developments, especially projects with strong security system, lush green environment and are lifestyle-driven."

In April, the government announced new, tighter rules to ensure that developers would provide accurate sizes and layout of apartments, in a bid to protect buyers less familiar with the property market.

As a result, more Singaporeans are expected to buy in Malaysia due to the tightening regulations in Singapore, according to Steve Melhuish, CEO and Founder of PropertyGuru Group.

He added that property prices have reached an all-time high and slight price declines are pushing Singaporean buyers to invest elsewhere.

Wan Abdulah said, "Approximately 50 percent of our total purchasers in Nusajaya are foreigners while the remainder are Malaysians." UEM Land's Nusajaya is one of five flagship zones in Iskandar Malaysia — the first economic growth corridor in Johor.

The developer has four ongoing projects in the area, namely East Ledang, Nusa Idaman, Puteri Harbour, Nusa Bayu and Horizon Hills, a joint venture (JV) with Gamuda Land Bhd.

"Our luxury garden residences, East Ledang and highend condominium, Imperia at Puteri Harbour received overwhelming response from the Singapore buyers," he added.

HLIB Research 30 September 2011 (Gamuda; Traders Brief)

Living in Johor remains exciting. How I wished I was already a resident while writing this post. Anyways, some indication on the sales performance of Gamuda in Nusajaya.


Link to actual source


Gamuda (BUY)
Record breaking year

• FY11 earnings came in at a record high of RM425m (20.7 sen/share), in line with HLIB forecast but 7.6% above consensus numbers.
• Strong performances from all divisions buoyed Gamuda's earnings to record highs, which grew by 32% YoY. Outstanding active order book fell to RM2.3bn (RM2.1bn from EDTP), translating to only 1.2x FY11's construction revenue. Hence, the MRT tunnelling project is crucial for Gamuda to replenish its order book.
• Launches in Bandar Botanic, Horizon Hills and Jade Hills continued to do well with some ~RM300m new sales achieved during 4Q11. Unbilled sales remained at ~RM1bn, translating to 1.4x FY11's property revenue. For FY12 property sales target, Gamuda has already secured ~RM350m new sales out of the targeted RM1.35bn in local property sales.
• As for Vietnam, response has been poor due to the high interest rate environment and the lack of development track records. The management has revised their Vietnam property sales target downwards drastically by >50%, from RM1.5bn to RM650m.
• FD SOP valuation trimmed by 2.8% from RM3.92 to RM3.81 as we introduced a 10% discount in our SOP valuation to reflect the current risk adverse appetite in the market.