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KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Sunrise Bhd, the country’s largest property developer by market capitalisation, is on a hunt for property development opportunities in Indonesia, following its forays into Singapore, Melbourne and Vancouver.
Its chief marketing officer Siti Mariam Mohd Desa said the property developer is now “looking and talking to people” about the possibility of developing high-end condominium projects in Indonesia.
“We are looking at Indonesia. As foreign investors, the mid-range housing (developments) would be done by the local [developers]. When we go there, we bring expertise of developing high-end [properties] into the country,” she told The Edge Financial Daily after a media preview on Residensi 22 Mont’Kiara Block B here last Friday.
UEM Sunrise also plans to step up its presence in Canada and Australia, and is in early stages of talks to acquire a piece of land in Canada, said Siti Mariam.
It is currently developing two prime land parcels at 224-252 LaTrobe Street and 9-23 Mackenzie Street in Melbourne, having appointed Australian architects for the project. Construction on the two properties is poised to start next year.
The group had on Oct 8 last year completed the acquisitions, marking its maiden foray into the Australian property market.
UEM Sunrise currently has a total domestic and foreign land bank of 11,000 acres (4,451.5ha) with gross development value (GDV) of about RM80 billion. It retains a land bank in Durban, South Africa.
Meanwhile, the group last Friday launched the second phase or Block B of Residensi 22 in Mont’ Kiara here which features a high-end condominium development with a GDV of RM971 million.
Siti Mariam expects 100% take-up rate for Block B of Residensi 22 by early 2015.
Residensi 22 houses 534 condominium units ranging from 1.878 sq ft to 3,163 sq ft with an indicative selling price of RM750 per sq ft.
Siti Mariam deems the selling price of Residensi 22 as “very reasonable” as the units are priced slightly below the Mont’ Kiara area’s pricing of RM850 to RM900 per sq ft.
Within the Mont’ Kiara area, UEM Sunrise still has 41 acres of land for development, but Siti Mariam said Mont’ Kiara is becoming a “very matured” development and supply of new properties has slowed down.
Depending on the sales and response for Residensi 22, UEM Sunrise is working towards the launch of yet another high-end and lifestyle driven condominium development in Mont’ Kiara at the end of this year.
UEM Sunrise also has upcoming property launches in Bangi. Its Serene Heights Bangi, a 450-acre land development of double-storey terrace houses worth RM500,000 will be launched in the middle of this year.
UEM Sunrise share price closed unchanged at RM2.38 last Friday, with a market capitalisation of RM10.8 billion.
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| Siti Mariam and UEM Sunrise Bhd project director (central region) Ang Kee Ping with a model of the Residensi 22 Mon’t Kiara project in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. |
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 21, 2014.
