City&Country: I&P’s property bonanza a hit

For 38-year-old Teoh, the long wait to purchase a 2-storey shopoffice unit at Phase 6A3 in Bandar Kinrara, Puchong, was well worth it. He was convinced of the potential appreciation in value of the units as a supermarket would be coming up soon on a neighbouring plot.

Teoh had queued for four days during I&P Group Sdn Bhd’s three-day “10.10.10 I&P Mad About Homes 2010 Property Bonanza” campaign in order to buy the shopoffice. He paid RM1.5 million for a corner unit.

Phase 6A3 offered only 20 units of 2-storey shopoffices, with built-ups from 3,057 sq ft onwards. Priced from RM898,888, they were fully sold on the first day. I&P Group is the master developer of the township.

“We live around here, and I heard that there would be a supermarket at that parcel opposite the shopoffice. So we want to lock in the property now before any announcement is made,” says the Bandar Kinrara resident of seven years. Excluding the shopoffice, Teoh currently owns four properties in Bandar Kinrara.

Room for value appreciation
Teoh, who works in a property investment-related business, says the township still has room for value appreciation as a major public transport line will be built along Lebuhraya Bukit Jalil, and more F&B outlets are expected to come up, which will make the area more vibrant. He is also looking at an upcoming serviced apartment development, located within the vicinity of Giant Bandar Kinrara, which is expected to have a seamless connection to the proposed LRT station.

The 1,904-acre Bandar Kinrara, launched in 1991, is now 70% developed. There are about 611 acres left to be developed over seven to eight years. The township has a gross development value of RM3 billion, and upon full completion, will have an estimated 16,779 residential units.

I&P Group is the inaugural winner of The Edge-PEPS Value Creation Excellence Award 2010 for the residential category this year for its Bandar Kinrara development. The award, a feature of The Edge Property Excellence Awards, was created to help consumers identify properties with the greatest value creation in terms of capital appreciation as well as sustaining value.

The award also seeks to recognise developers that make value creation a key point of their developments, resulting in the highest value creation.

Based on I&P Group’s submission for the award, properties in Bandar Kinrara have an average capital appreciation of 51.55% over an average period of 1.96 years.

The developer was also ranked No 7 in The Edge Top Property Developers Awards 2010. It has been on the Top 10 list since the inception of the awards in 2003.

Property bonanza
Held over the Oct 10 to 12 weekend, the “10.10.10 I&P Mad About Homes 2010 Property Bonanza” showcased six existing products, eight new launches and a new project for registration of interest at its sales gallery in Bandar Kinrara. This was the first time the developer had promoted all its projects in different townships under one roof at the same time.

I&P Group managing director Datuk Jamaludin Osman says the total GDV of the 15 projects is RM550 million, while the total value of products offered for sale during the property fair is RM371.71 million.

“This is the first time we are doing this one-stop sales centre for all projects. We had in the past, combined advertisements for our projects but this is the first time that we are combining all the products from various projects into one sales gallery.

“It is more cost efficient and convenient for customers as they have more to choose from … we have houses from various locations. In future, we will organise such one-stop sales fairs once in a while,” he tells City & Country.

The property fair attracted prospective buyers from all over Kuala Lumpur. For some projects, like the shopoffices in Bandar Kinrara, the queue started as early as Oct 4 as the units were sold on a first-come-first-served basis.

Besides the 2-storey shopoffices, eight new projects were launched at the property bonanza. These were 2-storey terraced homes (Phase 7A1) as well as 3-storey terraced homes and 2 and 3-storey semi-detached homes (Phase 7A2) in Alam Damai, Kuala Lumpur; 2-storey terraced homes (Phase A1-03b) in Alam Impian, Shah Alam; estate lots (Phase 4P1) in Alam Sari, Bangi; 2-storey semidees (Phase S5B) and 2 and 3-storey shopoffices (Phase S7) in Alam Sutera, Kuala Lumpur; as well as bungalow lots in Petaling Heights in Petaling Jaya.

The 2-storey shopoffices in Alam Sutera (Phase S7) were fully sold on Oct 10. Eleven units were offered for sale.

The Zone K, a serviced apartment component of a commercial development in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, opened for registration during the property fair. The developer is looking to launch the project on a 13-acre freehold commercial parcel, fronting the KL-Seremban Highway, in 2012.

To further enhance the value of Bandar Kinrara, I&P Group is looking at building chalets for rent next to the 18-hole Kinrara Golf Club to complement existing facilities, which include an international cricket pitch and a landscaped linear park with running tracks.

The plan is in the preliminary stages, and the developer will soon be submitting it to the local authorities for approval. Upon completion, the chalets will be managed on a joint-venture basis with a hotel management operator.

By year-end, the developer will launch more semidees, shopoffices, terraced homes and bungalow developments in Bandar Kinrara.

New townships
I&P Group has plans to launch two new townships in Selangor and Johor in 2012. The two townships are located in Meru, Klang, and in Johor Baru.

The company owns 398.7 acres of freehold land, acquired in May 2004, in Klang. It is a stone’s throw from S P Setia’s Setia Eco Park. The township in Johor Baru, meanwhile, covers about 330 acres.

“These projects are on the drawing board. We are finalising the layout for submission and will continue with our phased projects in other townships. Subject to approval and market condition, we hope to launch these projects in 2012,” says Jamaludin.

This article appeared in City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 828, Oct 18-24, 2010