PETALING JAYA: Despite the current downturn in the property market, developer Ken Holdings Bhd is going ahead to develop an office tower in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.  It aims to submit for building plan approvals "in a few months' time" and start work on the project by the end of the year, its executive director Sam Tan said on March 6.

Human resource consultant, Mrs Christine Ong, 38, is just the kind of home buyer that Frasers Centrepoint Homes in Singapore is targeting. Ong and her husband live in a five-room HDB flat in Bukit Panjang, which they bought from the HDB 10 years ago. Today, the property is fully paid for.Now, the couple is shopping for a new property. “If the price is right, we will sell our flat,” says Ong.

The property market in Penang seems to be perking up a little as a few developers have decided to take action to spur sales in light of the slowdown.

Built in accordance with Bandar Utama’s 1988 township master plan, the 4-storey, RM45 million clubhouse The Club opened in January this year, complementing the nine phases planned for the Bukit Utama Condominium Commune in the township in Petaling Jaya. Of the nine phases, Phase One — called 1 Bukit Utama and consisting of 586 units — has been handed over to the owners and is occupied.

Incentives to attract investorsWhen Westport, one of Port Klang’s three major gateways, was opened some 15 years ago on Pulau Indah, it heralded the start of major development on the then sleepy isle.While Westport has since come into its own, becoming one of the fastest growing ports in the country, development on the rest of the island appears to be struggling.Apart from West

The Penang property market, inactive since mid last year, is stirring. After months of lying low, the more aggressive developers are back with new launches, this time armed with innovative financing packages they hope will woo prospective buyers adopting a wait-and-see stance.Prices on the secondary market are down.

*This article was published in City & Country Malaysia in the week of February 9, 2009 The cost of a Golden Gate Bridge view from the top of San Francisco’s tallest residential building just got 15% cheaper.

 *This article first appeared in City & Country for the week of January 5, 2009  Lincoln Lee, Lucas Works Sdn Bhd’s executive director, currently lives with his family in Taman Tasik Kesuma in Semenyih, which is over an hour’s drive from the Kuala Lumpur city centre. He moved in just about a year ago from Melaka.

As lifestyles change so do the preferences of retail shoppers. Once, our parents or grandparents skirted murky puddles at smelly wet markets for weekly groceries; nowadays, their offspring prefer to do their shopping in air-conditioned comfort.

Change in profile but not valuesLee Yoke Har's resemblance to older brother Datuk Lee Yeow Chor is uncanny. Soft-spoken and affable, her quiet strength and firmness are very similar to her sibling's when it comes to dealing with the issues of the day.