News by Tan Ai Leng

Following the good market response, the company will be unveiling 251 units of garden terrace homes with built-up sizes ranging from 2,293 sq ft to 3,002 sq ft, to cater to larger multigenerational families.

Meanwhile, Mah Sing announced the group recorded approximately RM1.28 billion sales in the first nine months this year, this also means the group has achieved 80% of its 2021 sales target of RM1.6 billion.

According to the findings by Knight Frank Malaysia, the rental of workers’ accommodation could be as low as RM155 per bed a month, up to RM300 per bed a month, depending on the service packages (including utilities, transportation, food caterings and periodic health screenings), location of PBWA and adherence to local or international standards.

Since the amendment of Act 446 came under en­forcement last year, there is a surge of demand on workers’ dormitories that fit the requirements. However, the main problem is there is not enough supply to meet the demand as the busi­ness owners did not expect the Act to be enforced on such short notice.

Selling it was always an easier option than restoring the building. But bringing back the beauty of the building and leaving a part of history for Penangites and our children was a quest worth going into. We wanted to bring back the former glory of this stately build­ing,” said Datuk Ooi Sian Hian.

The average occupancy for the past few weeks since the travel ban lift has been approximately 40%, compared to 20% to 25% averagely before the interstate travel was allowed.

While upfront cost remains the main concern, there are some of the industry players are introducing instalment payment schemes, which could offer more affordable solutions for interested users and also help generate recurring income for the service providers.

"Despite many saying the market is slow, I believe this is part of a business cycle where there are always ups and downs. I believe there is never a bad time, it is just time to do something else."

“Looking at the market condition, we foresee next year will be a year of recovery, hence the most important thing right now is for us to accumulate landbank and do our project planning,” says Chin Hin Group managing director and exec­utive director Chiau Haw Choon.