Securing a mortgage to buy a house is not easy these days as financial institutions continue with their tight lending policies. But your chances of getting the loan approved may be higher if you buy a property through joint ownership.

A visitor to the Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) development’s sales gallery at Jalan Hang Tuah, Kuala Lumpur would be greeted by the sight of shipping containers. But these are no ordinary containers. All decked up in glass and a myriad of colours, they have been turned into BBCC’s project office and sales gallery. BBCC is 19.4-acre development with a gross development value of RM8.7 billion on the site of the former Pudu Jail. It is being developed by a consortium comprising UDA Holdings Bhd, Eco World Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld) and the Employees Provident Fund.

IT’S been a year since the Strata Management Act 2013 (SMA) was implemented in our country. As we should know by now, strata is a form of property ownership and development format that caters for the subdivision of buildings and land to ensure higher density and better efficiency in land utilisation. In simpler words, strata living is a form of community living where it embraces the idea of “love thy neighbours” instead of “my home is my kingdom” by holding several households or different entities under one roof.

Affordability and improving infrastructure are the town’s main draws

For the second quarter financial year 2016 (2QFY16), the Group maintained its 100% occupancy rates for its office segment.

Assuming that the SUKE package is worth RM900 million to RM1 billion and Gabungan AQRS secures a 50% share of work as a subcontractor, we believe this would lift its order book by RM400 million to RM500 million. As a subcontractor, its profit before tax (PBT) margin is generally low at about 6%.

IOI Prop derives recurring income from investment properties by leasing out office buildings and retail space.

KLCCPSG reported a profit after tax and minority interest of RM360.6 million for 1HFY16, a 0.6% growth y-o-y, coming in within our and the consensus expectations, making up 48% of forecasts.

The property will be leased back to SCBC for a fixed long-term lease of 15 years, with a 10% step-up in rental rates (starting from RM281,000 per month) after every three years and a renewal option for another five-year term after the lease expires.

MQREIT declared a dividend of 4.23 sen for the first half of FY16 ended June 30, 2016 (1HFY16), compared with 4.1 sen for 1HFY15, going ex on Aug 16, 2016, representing an annualised yield of 7.05% at a payout ratio of about 91.4%.